Never Ending Story
by XTuRn-Up-ThE-mUsIcX
Summary: Lacey Henderson, Dustin's older sister is in a complicated relationship with Steve Harrington and when Will Byers goes missing everything starts changing. Follows from season 1 with a bit of a different story line. SEASON 1 - COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so this is my first attempt at writing a Stranger Things fanfic. It takes place in season 1 but in a bit of a different way welcoming new character Lacey Henderson – Dustin's older sister. **

**A Never Ending Story**

**Chapter 1**

It was the last day of school and Lacey & Dustin Henderson were running late.

"Shit" Lacey heard her brother curse, this had woken herself up.

"Dustin, you ok?" She called but then she looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table and it was flashing 00:00. "Shit" she heard herself say.

"Its 8:30, we're going to be so late." Dustin cried and Lacey jumped out of bed. "Ok no time to shower, just throw on some clothes, brush teeth and we'll be there on time, no bike Dustin, I'll drive, it'll be quicker." Dustin groaned but headed into the bathroom anyway.

15 minutes later they were headed out the door. Their mom had also overslept and when she'd heard them rummaging around she woke up. "Here." She handed them 10 dollars each. "Love you." They both called out to her and rushed out the door.

"The power must've gone out last night." Dustin exclaimed and Lacey agreed. "Maybe we won't be the only ones who are late." She claimed and as they pulled up to the school she saw Will Byers getting out of his brother, Jonathan's car, pulling his bike with him.

"There's Will!" Dustin said and threw his bag over his shoulder. "Bye, I'll see you later, do you want a ride?" Lacey asked him and he shook his "I'll see you at home. Thanks." He ran over to Will and the two walked over to the bike rack to store Wills bike. Dustin should have probably bought his too but Lacey shrugged to herself and drove on over to Hawkins High School.

She parked her car and checked her watch, she was 6 minutes late. Jonathan parked his car right next to hers and once they had both organized themselves they walked towards the school together. "No alarm?" Jonathan asked and Lacey nodded. "Thank god it's the last day!" Lacey exclaimed, pushing the school door open and entering the quiet halls. "See you around." Jonathan said before disappearing down the hall.

Lacey walked over to her locker and grabbed her books for first and second period and headed to Math. She entered the class and everyone looked up at her. "Sorry, I'm late." She said to Mrs. Kingsley and continued towards her desk. "No problem Ms Henderson, take a seat." She knew she would get away with being late because it was the last day of school and she didn't make a habit out of it.

She sat down next to her best friend Nancy Wheeler who looked over at her and then leaned in to whisper, "You look like hell." "Gee, thanks Nance." Lacey responded and Nancy chuckled.

Nancy Wheeler and Lacey Henderson had been best friends forever. Nancy had then become friends with Barb and now they were all great friends.

"Wild night with Steve?" Nancy joked and she rolled her eyes.

Steve Harrington. Lacey's forever boyfriend. To be honest Lacey hadn't hung around Steve in a while because she was tired of his attitude when he was around Tommy and Carol and he was around them a lot. He had become a real douchebag and she kept making up excuses every time Steve invited her over, she knew it was time for them to have a talk but she couldn't really bring herself to it.

When Math was over Nancy and Lacey walked towards English. "Are you and Steve ok?" Nancy had asked the burning question. Lacey nodded but didn't say anything further. She didn't want to talk about it because once she spoke about it, it would mean that everything she was thinking was true.

When the first few lessons in the morning were done Lacey met Nancy and Barb outside the cafeteria. Once they'd organized their lunch they made their way to the lunch table they usually occupied with Steve, Carol and Tommy.

"Hey Lace." Carol said before anyone had sat down. "You look like shit." She added and Tommy laughed. Steve looked up at Lacey and gave her a

* * *

small smile. She sat down next to him and he leaned in for a kiss but Lacey gave him her cheek instead. "Where were you this morning?" He asked curiously. "Late." She responded harshly, annoyed at Carol's comment. "So is everyone excited for summer vacation?" Nancy asked, breaking the tension between everyone.

When the bell rang signalling the end of lunch Steve took Lacey's hand and walked her out of the cafeteria and into a quieter place where he turned back to look at her.

"Are we ok?" He asked, point blank.

Lacey stared at Steve blankly and sighed. "I can't talk now Steve, I'm going to be late." She said to him and pushed past, she heard him call out to her and say "There's always something…" She shook her head to herself and hoped he hadn't seen it.

The bell rang. It was the end of the day. Finally!

Nancy met Lacey outside the school and they walked towards the parking lot. Everyone was in high spirits and Lacey heard someone talking about a party that Tammy Thompson was having that night.

Barb was waiting for Nancy at her car and she asked them if they were going to the party.

"Do you guys want to go?" Nancy had asked the two girls who looked at each other and shrugged. At that moment Steve, Tommy and Carol joined the three. Barb rolled her eyes and opened her car door.

Steve just wanted to see Lacey and see if she was in a better mood than before. "So can I pick you up for Tammy's party?" He asked Lacey quietly, not letting Carol or Tommy hear. He took her hand in his and begged her with his brown puppy dog eyes. "We can have some fun?" He asked and Lacey looked at her friends. "We'll see you guys there." Nancy called out with a nod and climbed into the passenger seat of Barb's car. The two drove off, and left Lacey alone to deal with Steve.

"Steve come on, let's get out of here." Tommy moaned. The parking lot was almost empty now. "Hang on a minute." Steve said, sounding annoyed. Tommy and Carol got into Steve's car. Once alone, Lacey's attitude towards Steve changed. She gave him a hug and a quick peck and agreed to go the party with him, as long as Tommy and Carol found their own way there.

Steve had agreed, he kissed her this time, a bit longer than the kiss she'd given him and then proceeded to open her car door for her. Lacey got into her car and before Steve closed the door he'd said "I'll pick you up at 8." Lacey nodded and started her car. Steve walked back to his car but turned around to watch her drive off, maybe they were going to be ok after all.

When Lacey got home Dustin was sitting in the living room with their mom and Will Byers. Will had obviously lifted Dustin home. "Welcome to summer sis." Dustin greeted her as she walked in and smiled. "Hey Guys." She said to them all and ruffled Dustin's hair, he did not approve with the look he gave her when she was done. "What are your plans for tonight?" She asked them all and Will Byers spoke first. "We're going over to Mike's house to play Dungeons and Dragons." "I'm going to be dozing on this couch." Claudia Henderson nodded and Lacey laughed. "And you?" Claudia added. "Steve's fetching me for a date…" She half lied, She couldn't tell her mom she was going to an unsupervised teenage party, she would never let her go.

"Remember, curfews…" Claudia said looking at both of her children. "Mom, it's the first night of summer, could we possibly push curfew a little?" Dustin whined and Lacey nodded in agreement. Claudia sighed, "Ok, we'll push it to 11:30-12:00 for you Lace, Dustin yours will be 10:00." She ended and Dustin high fived Will.

Lacey had gotten dressed and was now waiting for Steve to arrive. Lacey's dark hair was in curls flowing down her back. Her outfit included dark jeans, a white lace top and a leather jacket with converse shoes. She sat on the couch next to her mom and looked at her watch, it was eight o clock, where was he? She half expected him to be early.

At half past eight she started to get annoyed. She got up and took the telephone off the wall and dialed Steve's house number and when no one answered she hung up and dialed the Wheelers. Karen Wheeler answered after the second ring.

"Karen, Hello?" She asked into the phone.

"Hey Mrs Wheeler, it's Lacey." She said into the receiver.

"Hey Lace, Nancy just left with Barbara, they said they were meeting you at the diner?" Karen said into the phone and Lacey nodded to herself. "Sure, thanks Mrs Wheeler." Lacey hung up the phone abruptly and realized that she'd been rude but she'd had enough. She looked at her watch and it was now 20:45 so she decided to drive herself to the party.

"What's going on?" Her mom asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm going to drive myself." She stated and grabbed her keys and bag. "I'll be home a lot earlier though." She added and stormed out the door.

When Lacey arrived at the party she saw Steve's car in the driveway. Asshole she thought to herself before slamming the door as she got out. She stormed into the house not knowing what to do with herself, half of the crowd was chanting Steve's name (he was obviously doing the keg stand) and the other half were standing around watching or mingling.

She found Nancy and Barb who saw her first and immediately asked what was wrong because they'd seen her look around for Steve. "Steve said to us that you decided not to come?" Nancy advised and that made her blood boil even more.

The basketball team had held Steve up while he was doing the keg stand and were now just letting him down. He laughed and received some high fives before stumbling over to the table nearest to Lacey, Nancy and Barb. He still hadn't noticed Lacey was there. "How drunk is he?" She asked the girls and they shrugged, "He's done two of those since we've been here and we found him here." Barb answered truthfully. Carol and Tommy huddled around Steve and Carol had some other girl there with them. She saw Steve put his arm around her and she cursed. "Fuck this shit." "Lacey?" Nancy called after her in panic as she saw her friend spiral out of control.

"Oh shit…" Carol said finally noticing Lacey storming up to them making a beeline for Steve.

"Hey Lacey!" Tommy exclaimed loudly after noticing Lacey too, Steve looked up and immediately took his arm off the girl next to him.

"Lacey…" Steve slurred a little but seemed happy to see her. "I thought you weren't coming?" He asked confused, "So that makes this ok?" She asked him, anger seeping through her words, gesturing to the girl that was still standing next to him who looked even more confused

"Who told you I wasn't coming? I've been waiting for you to come fetch me?" She continued and looked over at Carol and Tommy who were giggling about something. Steve looked over at them too and Lacey realized they were the ones who'd told him

Tears were now starting to form in her eyes, she could not cry in front of them.

"Come on Lacey, we're all just having fun." Tommy moaned, "Don't spoil it for us now." With that Lacey found her body facing Tommy, unable to control her hand, the sound that her hand made when hitting his cheek caused a few people to look over at the drama unfolding. Lacey was spiraling and she hadn't even had anything to drink. It was all the built up emotion over Steve that had her acting this way. Lacey noticed that Carol was about to lunge for her, Steve saw this too and threw himself in front of Carol who slapped Steve in the face instead. "Bitch!" Carol yelled after Lacey who was now running for the door. She needed to get out of there before anything else happened. Nancy and Barbara couldn't get nearer enough to Lacey to help her after the crowd had piled in. On her way out she saw a half a bottle of Vodka that she grabbed before running to her car. Her hands were shaking as she reached her car so she couldn't get her key in the door quick enough. "LACEY?" Steve yelled, running towards her. She climbed in her car before he reached her but couldn't start it and she didn't have enough time to lock it. He banged on her window before going over to the passenger side and getting in. He noticed the bottle of vodka in her hands. She burst into tears but didn't look at Steve who was sitting their quietly. "Get out of my car Steve." She said slowly but Steve refused. "We have to talk about what just happened." Lacey shook her head and took a sip of the vodka, she pulled a face as the alcohol burned her throat.

"Lacey please talk to me?" Steve pleaded. Lacey now looked over at Steve who gulped when he saw the look on her face, it was either pure hatred or pure disappointment or both but he didn't like it. "I'm done…" She paused and Steve kept quiet. "We're done." She continued and Steve looked like he was about to retort but Lacey put her finger up to show him she was still talking. "Get out of my car and leave me alone Steve." She ended. Steve didn't know what to say so he followed her orders and once he was out the car she turned on the ignition and drove off. Once she was at home (she'd hid the bottle of vodka in her handbag so she could drown her sorrows when she was alone in her room) she entered the house. Her mom was still sitting on the couch when Lacey arrived and looked up to see Lacey trying to sneak up to her room. "You're home early?" Her mom questioned and Lacey nodded but didn't say anything else. It was reaching half past ten so it wasn't that early. Lacey felt tears fill her eyes again but avoided looking at her mom. "I'm tired so I'll be in my room if you need anything." And with that Lacey walked up to her room putting that night behind her.

The phone rang early that morning and it woke Lacey up to a terrible headache. She got up and rubbed her temples. Dustin was already downstairs when she joined the both of them, he was standing next to their mom who was now talking to Joyce Byers. Apparently Will hadn't gone home that night and she'd called the rest of the parents asking if he was there and he wasn't which was bringing her to a panic. "Hold on Joyce, have you looked everywhere?" Claudia asked and Joyce had said something which made her nod. "Ok don't worry we'll help you look for him." Claudia ended the call and looked at her children. "Will didn't go home last night and Joyce fears the worst." Dustin looked worried sick and Lacey couldn't help but feel sorry for her only brother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Claudia Henderson gave her kids some cereal to eat for breakfast before telling them to get dressed because they were meeting at the Byers house as Chief Hopper wanted to talk to the kids

Once dressed and ready the Henderson's left the house in Claudia's car. They reached the Byers residence and Dustin immediately ran over to Lucas Sinclair and Mike Wheeler who were his other friends. I saw Nancy, she was standing with Jonathan Byers. The chief of police - Jim Hopper was also there with another police officer organizing a search party for Will later that evening but for now he was talking to Joyce Byers who was telling Hopper where Will liked to hang out.

"Uh… he has a Castle, no not a real one but one he built outside our house in the woods… he calls it Castle Byers…" She was saying.

Lacey left her mom to stand with Karen and Ted Wheeler and went over to Nancy and Jonathan. "Hey." She greeted and they both greeted back. Nancy looked at Lacey with a worried expression on her face. "Are you okay?" She asked softly, not letting Jonathan hear. Jonathan wasn't concentrating on them though he was watching his mother.

Lacey nodded but Nancy raised her eyebrows in suspicion that Lacey was lying to her.

Once Lucas, Mike and Dustin had sat down with the Chief they all started talking at once and Jim Hopper held his hand out to silence them. "Okay, Okay one at a time alright?" He advised, and they stopped the chatter and nodded.

"You said he takes what?" Jim asked, and Mike spoke, "Mirkwood."

"Have you ever heard of Mirkwood?" Asked the other police officer that was with Jim and Jim shook his head, "I have not, sounds made up to me." They both concluded. Lucas spoke this time, "It's from Lord of the rings…" Dustin scoffed and corrected Lucas, "The Hobbit." The two started bickering. "Shut up you guys." Mike said to both. "Hey, what did I say, one at a damn time, you." Jim said and then pointed at Mike. "Mirkwood, its real road it's just the name that's made up. It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet." Mike ended with a nod. "Alright, I think I know where that is." Jim nodded to the police officer with him. "We can show you if you want?" Mike suggested but Hopper shook his head, "I said I know it." He ended, sounding annoyed, before putting on his hat. "We can help look?" Mike said, and Dustin and Lucas nodded in agreement. Hopper shook his head while standing up, "No, you guys go home, no biking around looking for him, no investigating, no nonsense this isn't some Lord of the rings book." He ended.

Dustin spoke this time, "The Hobbit." He corrected the chief and Lucas shoved Dustin, "Shut up."

"Do I make myself clear?" Hopper asked the boys who were still bickering. "Do I make myself clear?" He asked more sternly this time and they nodded. "Yes Sir." They all said in unison.

Nancy and Lacey went outside to wait for their parents by the cars. "So, what happened last night?" Nancy questioned, and Lacey looked to the ground. "We broke up." She said bluntly. Nancy's eyes widened in shock. "What?" She cried out and Lacey frowned, "Look, I think we all saw it coming, its fine, he can go be in a weird relationship with Carol and Tommy if he really wants to I just don't want to be a part of it." Lacey ended.

They were quiet for a few minutes before Lacey spoke again, "How was the rest of the party though?" Nancy looked at her and chuckled, "If you want to know what Steve got up to I can't help you there, we didn't see him come back into the party." Nancy nodded, and Lacey sighed. "Wait a minute…" Nancy said before turning to Lacey, "When we left his car was still there, but he never came back into the house?" Nancy added, and Lacey frowned.

Lacey could see Nancy was racking her brain for answers, "What if something happened to him too?" She questioned, and Lacey frowned, "Maybe he passed out somewhere?" Lacey advised but Nancy could see that Lacey had started to worry. "Maybe you should check on him?" Nancy suggested, and Lacey nodded. "Can I borrow your car?" Lacey asked her best friend, "My mom could give you guys a lift back to your house and I will bring your car back later?" She added, and Nancy nodded but said "My parents bought their car too, I thought I would stay back and hang with Jonathan." She advised, and Lacey thanked her, "Thanks Nance, let my mom know I've gone to Steve and will be back soon please…" She asked and took her keys and jumped into the car.

When she reached Steve's house she parked in the driveway. His car was there so she sighed in relief but she needed to know that he was actually okay. She walked up to the front door and rung the bell. She heard it go off inside and waited patiently to see if anyone came. After what she felt like was five minutes she knocked and called for Steve. "STEVE, are you there?" She yelled and continued to bang on the door for what she felt like was another five minutes. Eventually she heard movement inside and Steve opened the door. He was in his boxers and his hair was a mess. He'd obviously been sleeping. "What is going on?" He moaned, rubbing his eyes. Lacey rolled her own eyes and folded her arms in front of her chest; she was feeling angry again seeing him in this state. "Lacey?" He questioned her, once he'd noticed it was her. "What are you doing here, come to yell at me again?" He asked sarcastically and Lacey shook her head. "Will Byers is missing, and Nancy told me that you didn't go back into the party last night after I left so I just thought I'd see if you were still alive…" She advised him truthfully. "That Byers kid went missing?" Steve questioned and Lacey nodded. "He went missing going home last night, and you know he usually rides with Dustin on the way home from Mikes." Lacey continued and Steve nodded, he noticed her eyes turned misty but she looked away from him. She was going to cry.

Steve stood there awkwardly while Lacey pulled herself together. Last night she was super angry and broke up with him and today she was super emotional and on his door step. He didn't know what to do and he didn't want to invite her in because his house was a mess and he was a mess and he didn't even know what to say to her right now, he was angry with her at how she handled everything last night and he was angry at himself too. Once Carol had slapped him in the face he lost his temper and had yelled at the both of them and had told them to fuck off. Which in his opinion was probably the best thing he could've done. He'd then followed Lacey outside gotten dumped and allowed himself to sneak out back into the party from the other side and grabbed a bottle of whatever he found first and headed out into the woods to be by himself and drink his sorrows away. He'd passed out for a while but then woke up and drove himself home. "Ok so I'm glad you're alive." She said finally, "Be careful." She warned him before turning on her heel and walking back to her car.

Steve stood there for a little while not knowing what to do, then an ice cold breeze brought him back to reality. He closed the door as Lacey got into her car and leaned against the back of the front door. He knows he should've invited her in or chatted with her more but he couldn't bring himself to it not when he was this tired and hungover and especially not when she was in a roller coaster of moods. He heard her car start and heard her drive away so he was in the clear. For now.

As Lacey drove her way back to Nancy's house she thought about Steve for a moment. How all she'd wanted to do was give him a hug or have him hug her in comfort but he didn't do it, he didn't even try to redeem himself, sure maybe he was angry at her with how she handled things the night before but he could have at least said anything to make her feel better but he didn't.

When she arrived at the Wheeler's she found her mom and Dustin there too. Claudia was in the kitchen with Karen Wheeler drinking tea and the boys were in the basement as usual. Ted Wheeler was watching TV and Nancy was obviously still at Jonathan's house because she was nowhere to be seen. "I've come to drop off Nancy's car." Lacey said to Karen placing the keys on the hook. "How's Steve, darling?" Lacey's mom asked and Lacey kept quiet. Karen looked at Lacey seemingly interested in the topic too. "He's…" Lacey started but she stopped herself before she continued, "Fine." She ended. "We better get going." Claudia Henderson said while getting up. "DUSTIN." Lacey shouted down the basement stairs which lead into the kitchen "WE'RE LEAVING" She ended before saying goodbye to the Wheelers. Dustin trotted up the stairs and the Henderson's headed home. "Hopper found Will's bike." He informed Lacey on the way home. "Where?" She asked curiously and Dustin responded with one word. "Mirkwood."

It was well into the evening now and Lacey was lying on her bed thinking about everything that had happened that day. She heard Dustin's walkie talkie go off but she couldn't really here what was being said.

"Dustin, meet me outside in five minutes, we're meeting Mike on Mirkwood, over." Dustin looked at the time it was after 7 and he knew this was a bad idea, especially after everyone had told them to not go investigating for Will but there they were. Claudia Henderson had gone with Karen Wheeler to the search party and Lacey said she would stay and look after Dustin. Dustin heard Lacey put on some music and she'd popped her head in to see how he was doing and told him she was going to have a shower.

Dustin knew this was his time to head out so he packed his walkie talkie in a back pack before heading downstairs and out the door. He grabbed his bike and as he started cycling Lucas pulled up and they both headed for Mirkwood. Thunder rumbled, and Dustin looked up at the sky it was dark and cloudy. The search party would be over soon if it started to rain and they would need to get back. "Here it is." Lucas stated when they reached Mike and Mirkwood and the crime scene tape that had been put up after Jim Hopper found Will's bike earlier that day. Thunder rumbled again, and Mike felt a raindrop hit his head. Dustin looked over shoulder and shuddered as a breeze hit his skin. "Maybe we should head back and try again tomorrow… in the day time?" Dustin asked, and Mike shook his head, "If you want to go then go, we're doing this now." Mike ended before they dropped their bikes on the side of the road and the three of them wondered into the forest. "Did you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad?" Dustin asked, "and we're going to the exact same spot where he was last seen?" Dustin added. "Shut up." Mike said as the rain fell heavier now.

"We have no weapons, nothing!" Dustin said as the visibility around them worsened. "Shut up." Mike stated as they heard rustling around them as if someone were walking or running towards them. "Did you guys hear that?" Mike asked the others. They both nodded with wide, shocked eyes. The thunder rumbled, and the ground shook around them. They gasped as they saw a small girl with a shaved head standing in the thicket after a bolt of lightning struck a nearby street pole.

Lacey had finished her shower and decided to check on Dustin again. "Shit." She said once she realized he was not there. "DUSTIN!" She called. She ran into her bedroom and threw on whatever clothes she could find. She grabbed her car keys and jacket and when she was outside the rain started to pour. She saw that Dustin's bike wasn't there.

She wished she had one of his walkie talkies, so she could try get in touch with him and she knew he didn't go anywhere without it. It was pouring now as she drove herself to Will's house. "Mirkwood, where Cornwallis and Kerley meet." She remembered Mike saying from earlier that day, they must be there. She prayed she wouldn't find anything and when she reached the road they dubbed as Mirkwood she didn't find anything. She sat in her car confused because she thought they would be there. She decided to go back to the Wheelers hopefully they were there.

**Hey Guys,**

**Thank you for supporting this story**

**Hopefully the story will get more interesting now as things start happening.**

**I do not own Stranger Things or anything associated with it**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

When Lacey reached the Wheelers – a two story house at the end of a cul-de-sac - the rain came down harder. She banged on the front door calling for Dustin. "Dustin, Dustin - are you in there?" The front door opened to reveal a confused looking Nancy. "Lacey, what you are doing here?' She asked allowing Lacey to enter the house, dripping water everywhere. "I think Dustin snuck out here while I was in the shower." Lacey stated and Nancy shook her head and said "I haven't seen him?" "DUSTIN?" Lacey called out poking her head around Nancy towards the basement door.

"Oh shit." Dustin stated when he heard his sister calling his name. He and Lucas had both been freaking out since they entered the basement from the door on the outside of the house. The basement was dimly lit and their game of Dungeons and Dragons, that they'd played with Will the night that he went missing, was laid out on the table. The girl they'd found was sitting on the brown couch with her legs crossed. Mike had given her some dry clothes and Mike had taken her to the bathroom to change because before that she'd started to strip naked in front of them which is why the boys were now freaking out even more. "Don't tell her anything." Mike warned Dustin when they heard Lacey's call. "We know you can't keep secrets from her Dustin but this is a secret that needs to be kept." Lucas added. Dustin nodded and came up with the perfect cover story while he walked up the stairs.

"Dustin!" Lacey cried in relief when she saw her brother emerge from the staircase.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked him sternly, she didn't shout but she really wanted to. "I came to get my walkie talkie." Dustin lied but he saw Lacey's eyes twitch. She knew where he'd been he knew it but he couldn't say anything in front of Nancy otherwise they would all get in trouble.

Lacey opened her car and watched Dustin pile his bike into the boot and then get into the car before turning to Nancy, "I'm sorry about that, our mom trusted me to watch him and I panicked." She informed Nancy who nodded in understanding. Lacey said good bye to Nancy and walked back to her car. Dustin was sitting quietly when Lacey got in and closed the door. She started the car and as they drove Lacey cleared her throat. "Why did you lie?" She asked him curiously. Dustin looked confused but then realized what she was talking about, "I heard Lucas call you on your radio so you didn't leave it at Mikes." She added. Dustin nodded and sighed to himself. He was busted and he didn't know how to get himself out of it so he told Lacey the truth about that night. Lacey listened intently but kept quiet once Dustin had finished. Once they'd returned home Dustin and Lacey both changed into dry clothes and hung up their wet ones in the bathroom to dry.

Dustin went to his room but Lacey followed him. "We'll go there tomorrow okay? I need to see this for myself." She told him, he tried to argue but Lacey shook her head. "You guys could be in trouble." She ended.

The next morning they went to The Wheelers again. Lacey noticed Nancy wasn't there but that was better, Nancy didn't need to know why she was there. Lacey decided to park her car down the street so once they reached the Wheeler residence Dustin pulled her to the door that was on the side of the house so they didn't have to knock on the front door. Once Dustin had knocked and Mike had opened the door for them Mike moaned. "You told her?" and Dustin shrugged casually, "She figured it out." Dustin walked into the basement. Lacey followed suit leaving the door open ajar and Mike frowned at her. "We can't get anyone else involved, El told me bad people are after her but she also might be able to help us find Will." He told them both, Lucas was already there sitting in front of the girl Mike named El.

"Why did you call her El?" Dustin asked. "And why do you think she can help you find Will?" Lacey questioned looking at the girl who was dressed in Mike's clothing. "She's got a tattoo on her wrist with the number eleven on it. When I asked her what it meant she pointed to herself. She is Eleven." Mike stated and Lacey sat down next to Lucas now. "She saw this picture of Will." Mike held the picture up and continued to speak, "She pointed directly at him and said his name, I'm telling you this is all connected." Mike ended and turned to look at Eleven who was staring at them not saying a word.

"This is crazy, you're crazy!" Dustin cried out in worry. "We need to tell your mom!" Lucas agreed with Dustin. Lacey was still watching the girl curiously. "We can't, they will find out we were out last night and we'll all get in trouble." Mike ended.

Once Dustin and Lucas had calmed down a bit Mike continued to speak. "Think about it, we found her on Mirkwood where Will went missing, that's no coincidence. Maybe the bad people that are after her took Will?" He finished and Lacey looked at Mike who seemed frustrated that no one wanted to believe him.

"I think she knows what happened to Will." Mike added one last time and Lucas got up and started to pace. "Then why doesn't she tell us?" Dustin asked well more like moaned. "Do you know where Will is?" Lucas asked loudly, sounding annoyed. "Do you know what happened to him?" Lucas added. "Stop it, you're scaring her." Lacey suddenly said when she noticed El trembling at the sound of Lucas's booming voice. "We should all be scared." Lucas cried out, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

"This is crazy we have to tell your mom Mike." Dustin stated in a worried tone and Mike shook his head. "We can't tell anyone, the more people involved the more danger we're in from the bad people." Mike insisted and Dustin raised his eyebrow in concern, "What kind of danger?" He asked and Mike's face dropped, "Like danger, danger." Mike responded and Dustin groaned now and put his head in his hands.

Dustin looked at Lacey for help but Lacey started to speak. "We should tell your mom Mike, maybe she can help us keep her safe?" Mike shook his head roughly, "No one else must get involved." He stated and eyed out Dustin who was pacing back and forth. "Come on Mike." Lucas said, worry written all over his face. "We're not cut out for this." He added. Mike started bickering with Lucas and Dustin looked at Lacey for help. "I'm telling her." Lucas ended sternly before going to the door that was left open ajar by Dustin and Lacey when they'd entered. "NO!" Eleven said loudly and the door shut in Lucas's face with a loud bang. The four turned their heads to where Eleven was sitting. She was bleeding from her nose but she casually wiped it away. "No!" She said again and shook her head. Dustin and Lucas were standing with their mouths hanging open in shock. "Did you just…?" Lacey asked in shock looking at the door and then back at El.

After a few moments of silence and a few moments of trying to process what just happened Dustin spoke, "We would have never made you angry if we knew you had superpowers." He stated with a quick nod and Mike shoved him with his elbow.

They were quiet again and El was looking tired. She lay her body down on the couch and breathed. Lacey was pacing around the room now. "Lacey." Dustin called out to his sister who was processing everything in her head. "How does it work?' Lacey heard Mike ask El and she assumed it was about her powers. Lacey didn't see how El responded because there was commotion upstairs. "MIKE!" Karen Wheeler called down the basement stairs. "IS LACEY THERE?" She continued and Mike looked up at Lacey who shook her head. "NO, WHY WOULD SHE BE HERE?" Mike yelled back and Lacey walked towards the stairs but out of sight of Mrs Wheeler. "Sorry Steve, it doesn't look like she is here." She heard Karen say to Steve. "What is he doing here?" Dustin mouthed to Lacey who shrugged. "Weird, well thanks anyway Mrs Wheeler." Lacey heard Steve say before hearing his footsteps retreat and Mrs Wheeler closing the door. Lacey ran over to the door that was still closed from El's snap and looked out the window to see Steve get into his car. What the hell was he doing here? Lacey thought to herself as he drove off.

As Steve drove off he saw Lacey's car parked down the road. If she wasn't there why was her car parked down the road and if she was there why was Nancy's younger brother covering for her? He'd driven to the Henderson's and Mrs Henderson had told him that Lacey was at the Wheelers. Why would she lie? He knows Mike would lie but Mrs Henderson, surely not?

All he'd wanted to do was invite her to the party he was having. He'd seen Nancy and Barb in town and invited them and they said they would be there. He now chose to forget about Lacey, maybe he could have fun with Nancy instead and even though he'd actually been avoiding Tommy and Carol after Tammy's party he thought about inviting them to his party too.

Back in the basement El had her hands on Mike's radio. She was fiddling with it carefully, turning the nobs left and right until the four heard a noise that sounded like a child whimpering, after the whimpering had stopped Lacey looked at El who now had her eyes closed, a trickle of blood seeping out of her nose. "Will." El whispered. She turned the nobs again and they all heard Will clearly this time, he was singing some song that he and Jonathan apparently liked because Mike recognised it as The Clash – should I stay or should I go. There was a shriek like sound heard on the other end and then silence, well more like static electricity.

Dustin and Lacey stared at each other, shock horror written on their faces. "She found him." Lucas stated, just as shocked.

El opened her eyes and wiped the blood from her nose. "Dark…" El said slowly. "Do you know where he is?" Lacey asked this time, her stomach turning afraid of El's answer.

"Hiding." El said again just as slowly.

"Could you take us to him?" Dustin asked and El shook her head this time.

"But you know where he is, where is he El?" Mike asked now, sitting in front of her. El got up from her sitting position and walked over to the table where Dungeon's and Dragons was placed. She flipped the board over, letting their playing pieces scatter all over the floor. The board was flipped to the blank side and El grabbed the wizard piece – this was Will's playing piece - from off the floor and placed it in the middle of the blank side. "Will… is… hiding." She said slowly again. "Where is he hiding?" Dustin, who was now sitting next to El, asked her curiously.

El looked around and found the Demogorgon statue that Mike had used on Will that night he went missing and placed it on the board too. "The Demogorgon." Dustin whispered and Lacey looked at the boys confused. "The what?" She asked and Dustin looked up at his sister and explained The Demogorgon to her. She nodded once he'd finished explaining but chuckled to herself while shaking her head. "This is crazy, so are you saying that Will is alive but trapped?" Lucas asked now and El nodded. "But he's not in this world?" Mike asked and El nodded again. "The upside down." El said slowly. Her English wasn't the best but at least she could string a few words together, even if it didn't make sense to Lacey.

On the drive home Lacey and Dustin were quiet. The radio was playing softly in the background until Dustin spoke, "Do you think Will could be alive?" He asked and Lacey shrugged, "We will never know until we find him." Lacey ended.

The next day Mike had called Dustin and told him that they were going to go in search of Will with the help of El. Lacey decided to drop Dustin off but not go with them but when she reached the Wheelers Nancy was already out in the garage. "Hey Nancy." Dustin greeted before disappearing into the house. "What are you doing?" Lacey asked and Nancy looked worried, "I haven't heard from Barbara all day and when I called her house her parents said she didn't come home last night mainly because they thought she was here so I told them I couldn't find her but then acted like I found her." Nancy said in a hurry. "Where were you last night?" Lacey asked casually and Nancy gulped but continued, choosing her words carefully. "We were at the diner." She said with a nod, believing her own lie when in reality they went to Steve's party last night, nothing major had happened only towards the end of the night when she'd wanted to leave but Barbara was no-where to be seen so Steve took her home and he'd kissed her. It had stopped just as quickly as it had started but Nancy could not tell Lacey, well not now anyway.

Lacey stared at Nancy while she paced around the garage. Both of Nancy's parents weren't home, Lacey assumed Karen was at the community pool with Holly – Nancy's younger sister - and Ted was at work.

"What should we do?" Nancy eventually stopped pacing and asked Lacey before flicking her fringe out of her eyes in frustration.

A few minutes later Steve pulled up into the Wheeler driveway. Nancy looked from Lacey to the car. Lacey turned around and noticed Steve getting out of his car. "What is he doing here?" Lacey asked and Nancy shrugged but Lacey could see Nancy's eyes dart quickly back Steve who had now halted when he'd seen Lacey but then he continued walking towards the two girls. Maybe Nancy had told Lacey what happened but that's why Steve was here, he wanted Nancy to not tell Lacey, he would tell her. Once Steve approached the two girls he greeted them nonchalantly "Hey." They both responded at the same time, "Hey." Steve noticed Nancy's body language change as she became uncomfortable around the two. Steve realized she hadn't told Lacey anything. "Have you heard from Barbara?" Lacey asked Steve suddenly and Steve and Nancy exchanged looks which Lacey didn't take notice of but he shook his head. "Why?" He asked curiously. "She didn't go home last night." Nancy said quietly. "Have you tried…" He started but Lacey nodded she knew he was going to say tried her parents. "What if something happened to her like what happened to Will? "Nancy eventually asked and the three kept quiet. "I'm going to speak with Dustin real quick." Lacey advised the two, hopefully they hadn't left already because Lacey realized that if El could find Will maybe she could find Barb.

Once Lacey was out of ear shot Nancy shot Steve a look. "What the hell Steve?" She asked, flinging her hands in the air. "Do you want Lacey to find out?" She added and Steve shook his head and held his hands out in defence. "Look I just came over to ask you not to say anything to her okay? I'll tell her when I'm ready." Steve said to Nancy who breathed a sigh of relief, at least she wouldn't have to put up with the wrath of Lacey Henderson; she'd leave it to Steve. "Look, I saw Barb's car parked down the block from my house this morning so she couldn't have gone far." Steve told Nancy who looked up relieved again. Nancy had already decided that she would go investigate around Steve's house by herself when she was alone.

In the basement the boys were chatting to each other about the search party they were planning and El was sitting on the couch again, waiting. Lacey noticed that El was now wearing a blonde wig and one of Nancy's pink dresses. "You look… nice." Lacey said to her and El smiled, "Pretty." El said with a nod. "We needed to make her look a little bit normal." Mike told Lacey who nodded in agreement. "Do you think El could possibly help find Barb, Nancy is freaking out because Barb didn't go home last night?" Lacey asked Mike who nodded. "I'm sure she'll be able too, we just need something of Barbs so El can channel her but we're leaving now." Mike told Lacey who nodded. "Distract my sister alright?" He asked nicely and Lacey nodded again.

Lacey and Nancy had hung out with each other that afternoon, Steve left shortly after Lacey re-joined them. Lacey wondered why he'd been there in the first place but she put it in the back of her mind because they had more pressing matters to deal with and Lacey needed the distraction.

Karen and Holly arrived home a little after 16:00 with dinner. "Lacey, do you want to stay for dinner?" Karen asked and Lacey looked over at Nancy who nodded. "Thanks Mrs Wheeler." "MIKE, dinner's ready." Karen called down to her middle child who occupied the basement most of the time. "Uh, they're at Lucas's." Lacey said suddenly and Nancy looked up from her meal. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you." Lacey said to Nancy.

The Wheeler's phone rang that night a little after 20:00 o clock as Lacey was about to leave. Karen answered and once she had finished she looked pale and shocked.

"They found Will's body down at the quarry." She told her family. Lacey and Nancy looked at each other but all Lacey could think about now was Dustin.

**Thank you for the follows and favourites, it makes writing this story a lot easier. I would love to hear your thoughts about the flow of the story and if I need to change anything?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The next morning Mike was pacing back and forth in the basement of the Wheeler house. He didn't know what to believe. He was angry. He was angry with Eleven who made him believe that Will was still alive but he was also angry at himself for getting his hopes up. Eleven had led them to the quarry so they were there, unnoticed by the adults, when they fished Will's body out of the water and Mike had been so hurt and angry that he'd run off home after arguing with Dustin and Lucas. The boys bought El back to the Wheelers much to Mike's disappointment but they couldn't just abandon her.

El was sitting under the table which was where she had been sleeping for the past few nights, in a blanket fort made up by Mike. She was fiddling with Mike's radio again. Mike was mumbling to himself about everything that had happened and El could feel that Mike was angry at her and she didn't like it. She knew Will was alive, she could feel him but she needed to prove it to Mike again.

Only a static sound came out of the radio to Mike's annoyance. "Can you stop that?" He asked, his voice sounding more aggressive than it should have been. El looked at Mike but then closed her eyes and continued. Mike continued pacing and but then stopped when he heard Will's voice on the radio again. He was singing that same song 'should I stay or should I go' this time it was a few verses longer. Mike watched El as he listened to Will sing and the blood dripped from her nose so Mike knew that she was channelling Will. He grabbed the radio from El's hands and started speaking to Will, "Will, its Mike do you copy? Over." He said in a hurried tone. He said it again but when Will continued to sing Mike realized that the radio was only channelling one way, to the place called the upside down where Will apparently was trapped. He radioed Lucas to tell him to come over and bring Dustin with him. At first Lucas declined but Mike explained a little of the story to Lucas who then agreed.

"I'm going over to Mike's." Dustin told Lacey who looked up and nodded, "Do you want me to drive you? I'm going to see Jonathan just to see how they're holding up?" Dustin shook his head and walked into his sister's bedroom and closed the door behind him. "El channelled Will again so we're going to take her to the school to channel him through the radio Mr Clarke got the AV club last semester." Dustin told her honestly. "Dustin, they found his body?" Lacey interrupted but Dustin shook his head. "Mike believes that he's still alive and whatever they found in the quarry wasn't Will's body.

Lacey didn't say anything she just let Dustin go. If this was the way the boys would cope with Will's death she wouldn't get in the way of it.

Lacey got dressed in some jeans and a top that had some rock band on it. She grabbed her sweater off of the coat rack by the door on her way out.

She walked out to her car and climbed in. Soft music played on the radio system.

Once she'd reached Mirkwood which was near Will's house she felt a cold chill run up her spine. It was darker that usual and it creeped her out so she sped up a little until she was near a dirt road which led up to the Byer's residence. She parked her car on the grass that occupied the front of the house. The house looked oddly quiet and Jonathan's car wasn't there but Joyce's car was so Lacey got out the car and walked up to the house. She rung the bell and Joyce opened almost immediately. "Come in, come in." She said almost as if she didn't want to let any light in the house. Once Lacey was in the house however what she saw was incredibly disturbing. There were Christmas lights strung from every corner of the room all the way down the passage to Will's bedroom and there was a smell of paint wafting through the air and when Lacey saw the entire alphabet painted across the wall in black paint with each letter placed under a Christmas light she looked back at Mrs Byers who was now sitting on the couch staring at the lights.

Lacey sat down next to Mrs Byers and stared at her for a while. She looked tired and unwell. Lacey understood though because she knew that if her own mom lost either her or Dustin she'd most definitely act the same way but what Lacey was more curious about was the lights. Mrs Byers eventually spoke to Lacey and Lacey listened with the utmost interest.

"Hop thinks I'm crazy but that's not my boy they found." She said softly, shaking her head vigorously in the process. "He spoke to me this morning." She continued and Lacey's eyes widened. "He's spoken to me since he disappeared. He's trying to reach out, he wants to come back home but he's trapped." Mrs Byers looked at Lacey now and Lacey changed her weirded out facial expression to a shocked one before Mrs Byers had noticed.

She knew Mrs Byers couldn't be lying because El had also made contact with Will but that was before they'd found his body. She hadn't made any contact with him since then but wait a minute Dustin had told her that El had channelled Will that morning and Lacey hadn't believed him and brushed him off because she thought that's how Dustin was going to deal with the death of one of his best friends, by believing that he was still alive.

"Mrs Byers…" Lacey started but the lights in the house started to flicker. Mrs Byers stood up quickly. "It's him." She stated, near hysteria.

Lacey looked around at the lights flickering and then focused back on Mrs Byers who was staring at the wall opposite them. Lacey turned her head in the same direction. "Mom…" They both heard the small voice of a young boy. He sounded frightened. The wall started to pulse almost as if it had a heartbeat. "Will?" Joyce shrieked suddenly and ran towards the wall. Lacey held back as she thought that Mrs Byers was having a mental breakdown but then she saw it with her own eyes. It was Will. Mrs Byers had her hands on the wall trying to grab Will but the wallpaper was still in the way. Shrieking that sounded almost animal like was heard. "MOM IT'S COMING." Will cried, "I have to hide" He ended before disappearing to Joyce and Lacey's disappointment. Joyce wailed in despair and Lacey held onto Joyce's shoulders. "WILL" She cried out again but now there was something that looked like a claw that was scraping through the wallpaper. Lacey tried to pull Joyce away but Lacey could not control her. There was a shriek and the claw made its way into their world. The creature, animal … whatever it was stuck its left leg out first and started to climb out the hole it had created.

"MRS BYERS, I THINK WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Lacey screamed in horror and with all her might she pulled Joyce towards the door. "BUT WILL?" She cried and Lacey shook her head, "THAT'S NOT WILL!" Lacey yelled and turned back to see the creature's full body which was now in their world. It shook its head or what Lacey thought was its head and turned towards them. "RUN!" Lacey yelled as the creature made its own awful sound which sounded like nails on a chalk board.

Lacey pulled the front door open and ran for it. She could hear Mrs Byer's footsteps and panting behind her but Lacey could not slow down, all she knew was that they needed to get out of there.

Lacey and Joyce had been running for a good five minutes down the dirt road when they saw Jonathan's car. Joyce jumped in front of it much to Lacey's horror and waved him down to a halt. Jonathan's breaks screeched and he got out the car in a hurry. "Mom, what's going on?" He asked, his voice filled with worry. As Joyce started explaining Jonathan noticed Lacey standing on the side of the road looking around in a nervous manner. "Lacey?" Jonathan asked but Lacey didn't respond. She was petrified that that thing would come get them while they were hovering around in one place although as her ears started to adjust to the quiet that surrounded them she realized she could no longer hear the creature. Lacey felt her body collapse as she fell to her knees. She was in a state of shock and she had a feeling that Mrs Byers was too and when Mrs Byers started talking in circles Lacey could tell she was freaking out. "Something … Will was in the wall… something came out of it." Joyce was saying and Jonathan looked at Lacey and seeing the look on Lacey's face told him that something had happened but he just didn't understand what his mom was saying. Joyce eventually started crying and hugged Jonathan. Lacey got up from her hunched position and breathed in deeply, letting the fresh air into her lungs.

"Let's get back to the house." Jonathan said, pulling his jacket tighter around him and putting his arm around his mother leading her to the car. Lacey followed the two to the car but kept silent. She felt like she couldn't talk about what just happened, no one would believe them but hopefully when they got back to the house Jonathan would see the wreckage that the creature had made of their lounge wall and hopefully believe them.

When they reached the house the door had been left open so it was dark and cold inside. The lights were no longer flickering and it was quiet. Lacey stood in entrance of the doorway too scared to go in. Jonathan had ushered his mom in and was now sitting her down on the couch. "Are you coming in?" Jonathan asked Lacey who shook her head. "I think I'm going to get going." Lacey replied, the day had disappeared and night had fallen and Lacey did not want to be alone in the streets with that creature roaming around. Once Lacey had turned to walk away she heard Jonathan ask his mom, "What wall?" Jonathan had looked around and everything had seemed normal to him, except obviously the Christmas lights strewn across the room and the alphabet painted on the wall. Lacey turned back towards the front door to see why Jonathan couldn't see the big hole in the wall but what Lacey saw chilled her to the bone. There was no hole in the wall. Lacey stepped inside the house, her eyes fixated on the wall where the creature had come out. Lacey walked towards the wall and touched it with her hand. "Lacey?" Jonathan questioned and Lacey turned to look at Jonathan, "It came out of there…" Lacey told him quietly. "What came out of there?" Jonathan asked and this time Joyce spoke, "Something, animal like. It had no face but it looked human." Joyce muttered

"It had long arms, too long for its body." Lacey added and Joyce nodded.

"I think the paint fumes have gone to your heads, have you even left the house today mom?" Jonathan brushed off their description of the creature and spoke to his mom.

"I'm going to go." Lacey suddenly said and before Jonathan could say anything she was out the door. Maybe she and Mrs Byers had imagined the whole thing but deep in her gut Lacey knew what she saw was real and it shook her to her core.

**I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I really enjoy writing this story. If you have any thoughts I'd love to hear them. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Once Lacey had reached her own house she breathed a sigh of relief but also groaned because she saw Steve's car in the driveway. What was he doing there? She noticed Dustin's bike propped up against the wall and her mom's car parked in front of Steve's.

When Lacey entered the house she saw them sitting in the lounge. Steve and Dustin were laughing about something on the T.V and her mom was reading a magazine. Her mom was the first to look up and see her. "Hey honey, look who popped by for a visit?" Claudia exclaimed pointing to Steve with a smile on her face.

Lacey walked into the lounge and caught her reflection in the mirror. She didn't look too good but after what she just went through she didn't think she'd look like Miss America. Steve stood up and nodded to Dustin. "Thanks for the snack Mrs Henderson." Steve said with a small smile on his face before standing next to Lacey. "Can we talk?" He asked quietly and Lacey nodded and ushered him into the kitchen where they could be alone.

"Why haven't you told them yet?" This was the first question out of Steve's mouth which was obviously hinted towards their break-up.

"I've just been really busy." Lacey responded and Steve folded his arms around his chest.

"You didn't say anything did you?" Lacey now asked with her left eye brow raised. Steve shook his head and looked down at his feet. "Look, I need to tell you something but I'm not sure how to tell you without you freaking out on me." He started and Lacey stared at him while he stared at his feet. "Steve?" Lacey asked and Steve looked at her, he looked guilty and Lacey didn't like that look.

"I know we're broken up so I shouldn't even need to tell you this but I told Nancy that I would tell you so she didn't have to." Steve added and Lacey took a step back from him. Steve noticed the retreat but he couldn't stop now. "Nancy and I hooked up." He told her.

When Lacey heard the words she thought that Steve had made a mistake or a really bad joke but once she processed the words she felt her whole body collapse for the second time that night.

Steve saw her body sink and he didn't know what to say or do. He felt terrible that he had to tell her like this, he felt worse that he had to tell her at all. He'd hoped that once she was out of her funk she would run back to him but he knew she wouldn't now. He'd broken her one rule – trust – and he didn't know how to win it back because he'd never broken the rule before. Even when they first slept together she'd asked him not to tell anyone and he didn't. Granted, Tommy and Carol had found out by reading texts on Steve's phone and told everyone who would listen but Steve still hadn't told anyone. No matter how much of a jerk he seemed, he knew Lacey meant more to him than all that other stuff.

"Why?" Lacey asked softly, breaking the deathly silence between the two. That was one question Steve wished Lacey had not asked because he didn't know how to answer it. He just shrugged and muttered, "I was angry with you."

Lacey nodded slowly. "So, first the girl at Tammy's party and now Nancy?" She asked and Steve looked bewildered. He had to think back to Tammy's party, it had been a blur. He found the memory he was looking for and wished he hadn't. There he was arm swung around Carol's friend looking particularly cosy with someone who wasn't his girlfriend but he knew nothing had happened with her because Lacey had stormed up to them fuming before anything could have. Steve shook his head vigorously. "Nothing happened with that girl." Steve stated. Honestly. Lacey stared at Steve for a while which made him a little uncomfortable but he let her continue. "Did you sleep with her?" Lacey asked eventually and Steve quickly shook his head again realizing she meant Nancy and Lacey nodded slowly again, processing the conversation. "I'm really sorry." Steve eventually said and he meant it and he knew that Lacey could tell that he meant it.

Even though it felt like Lacey's heart had broken into about a million pieces she couldn't let Steve see her that way so she asked him to leave. "Would you please go?" She asked him softly and Steve could see that he wasn't wanted there anymore so he nodded and walked out of the kitchen. She heard him say goodbye to her mom and Dustin and then she heard the front door open and close. Lacey immediately went up to her room, two stairs at a time, and closed the door. She didn't want to deal with anyone or anything at that moment, she needed to be alone.

There was a knock on her door a few moments later and Dustin opened it. Lacey wiped away her tears and looked up to see her brother peering in. "Are you okay?" Dustin asked quietly and Lacey nodded, "I'll survive." Lacey smiled a small smile and Dustin reciprocated.

Lacey had almost forgotten about the creature that they'd seen earlier but she decided to tell Dustin about it the next day.

Claudia Henderson had left early that morning to go run some errands so Lacey and Dustin were alone in the kitchen eating their breakfast which consisted of scrambled egg on toast.

"So did you guys manage to contact Will again?" Lacey asked Dustin who swallowed a piece of toast and started talking. "Yes, he's definitely alive." Dustin said with an excited nod and Lacey nodded too, "I saw him." She stated and Dustin choked on a new piece of toast he'd just bitten. "What?" He exclaimed loudly after managing to cough up the bread. Lacey recounted yesterday's events and Dustin's eyes grew so wide Lacey was afraid they'd pop out of his head.

"Come on, we need to get to Mike's house." Dustin said, getting up suddenly abandoning his unfinished breakfast.

Lacey cleaned up while Dustin radioed Lucas. "Lucas do you copy, we have huge news. Tell Mike we're coming over, over." Dustin ended. There was a crackle and Lucas spoke and told him he'd meet them there. Once they'd reached the Wheelers house Lacey sighed in relief when she saw that Nancy wasn't home. She couldn't deal with Nancy right now.

Once they were all situated in the basement the boys and El gathered around Lacey while she told her story. "The Demogorgon." Lucas cried, pointing to the toy Demogorgon that El had placed on the overturned dungeons and dragons board a few days before.

"Clearly the upside down is linked with Hawkins for some reason but how would we find a portal?" Dustin asked and the boys and Lacey shrugged but Mike then looked at El.

"There should be a way that we could find one." Dustin stated and the boys nodded in agreement.

Nancy had been on her way to Jonathan's house when the thing jumped out in the road dragging a deer with it. Nancy's car had screeched to a halt and Nancy watched the creature drag its prey into the forest. Nancy was shocked and she didn't know what to do. Once she'd come out of her semi paralysis state she drove to The Byers in a hurry. She once again, screeched to halt outside and ran to the Byers front door. Jonathan answered after Nancy's first knock and looked surprised. "Nancy, what are you doing here?" He asked curiously but he saw the familiar look on her face, the look that Lacey and his mom had had the night the apparent creature came out of the wall. Nancy pushed her way passed Jonathan and told him to the close and lock the door. "Nancy, what is going on?" He asked but Nancy started to babble. She was babbling about something she'd just seen disappear into the woods. "What did this thing look like?" Jonathan asked, curiously. Nancy looked up at Jonathan, "Sort of human, but it didn't…" But Jonathan interrupted Nancy "It didn't have a face?" He asked and Nancy looked stunned. "Have you seen it?" Nancy questioned and Jonathan shook his head, "It was described to me before…" Jonathan hesitated but continued, "Lacey and my mom saw it come out of the wall." He ended pointing to the wall in their living room.

"Lacey?" Nancy questioned and Jonathan nodded. "They said it had Will or something…" Jonathan shrugged and Nancy looked shocked.

"Why don't you show me where it went too?" Jonathan asked and Nancy looked at Jonathan, horrified. "Are you crazy?" She cried and Jonathan shrugged again. "Look if this thing that you guys saw is real it could have Will and the sooner we find it the sooner we find Will." Jonathan stated and Nancy's face fell into concentration, "Maybe it has Barb too…" She thought out loud and Jonathan nodded. "Come on." Jonathan grabbed his jacket and opened the door to the outside world. Nancy took a deep breath and the two got into Nancy's car before driving down the road to the scene where Nancy had seen the creature.

"Ready?" Jonathan asked and Nancy nodded slowly. The two got out the parked car and wondered into the woods. Nancy spotted the blood trail from the deer and the two walked in that direction.

"Come on." Dustin cried out in annoyance while he walked around the basement with his compass. Lacey watched her brother torment himself with that damn thing until he stopped. "This isn't true North." He babbled on about something more until he started speaking to the boys about North. "Something is pulling the compass in that direction, something like a magnet or a strong force." Dustin continued. "A force?" Lacey chuckled and the boys looked at her with annoyed facial expressions. "Like a portal..." Mike shot at Lacey who stopped chuckling and nodded, "Ok guys, relax."

Once all the compasses had been gathered they all pointed in the same sort of direction wherever Dustin moved to. "Let's find out where these lead?" Lucas states and the boys nodded. "Let's go."

"Hang on a minute, are we really just going to go straight up to whatever this thing is with no help whatsoever?" Lacey asked the boys who all turned to El. "At least we have her." Lucas stated and the others nodded. "For Will right?" Dustin asked Lacey and Lacey sighed giving in almost too quickly because maybe whatever had taken Will was the same thing that had taken Barbara.

Once they'd left the Wheelers, the group, which included Dustin, Lucas, Mike, El & Lacey, followed in the direction of Dustin's compass. It lead them to the train track which hadn't been used in years. El and Mike were trailing behind and Lacey wondered what they were talking about but soon her thoughts were interrupted when they heard screams. It was female that's what Lacey could hear. "NANCY?" Lacey heard a boy scream now and recognised it as Jonathan's voice. "JONATHAN?" Lacey called out but then there was silence.

Everyone had stopped and was now watching Lacey climb down the train track and head into the forest, "JONATHAN?" Lacey called out again and the two emerged from the darkness. Nancy was shaking uncontrollably and she was full of dirt and what looked like slime. "Lacey? What are you doing here?" Jonathan questioned and when he saw the others he looked at Nancy, "Mike?" Nancy asked and Mike looked at the two of them suspiciously because Jonathan was holding Nancy to control her shaking.

"Who's this?" Nancy asked, her voice trembled a bit but she pointed at Eleven.

"First you tell us what just happened?" Lacey questioned the two and Jonathan looked at the kids and then at Lacey and shook his head. "Don't worry they know about everything." Lacey added. "Lacey…" Dustin moaned and Lacey shot him an annoyed look. "Jonathan knows and I think Nancy knows now too." Lacey advised the group and Mike groaned. Everyone huddled closer and Nancy recounted her story of entering the upside down. "So you were able to get out?" Mike asked, excitedly and Nancy shrugged, "Sort of, I had to look for another portal." Nancy stated and Lacey watched the two curiously, "Did you see anything?" She asked and Nancy nodded, "a creature, the same one you and Mrs Byers described to Jonathan." She informed Lacey. "Let's get back to the house." Jonathan exclaimed seeing Nancy shiver again." Lacey and the others agreed, if the creature was roaming the woods they weren't ready for any sort of attack, yet.

**I hoped everyone liked the story. I changed the plot a bit to fit my story but I still hope everyone is enjoying the story.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The group were all inside the Byers residence by now and Jonathan was wrapping Nancy in a blanket since she was still shivering.

"I can't imagine how Will is doing if I'm like this after being in there for ten minutes." She started to say "And Barb." She added looking at Lacey for support.

"How did you find the portal?" Dustin asked Nancy and Nancy turned to face Dustin. "It seems like the creature…" She started to say but Mike interrupted her, "The Demogorgon." He corrected and Nancy rolled her eyes, "It seems like the Demogorgon is attracted to blood so after the Demogorgon jumped out into the road with the injured deer and ran into the woods Jonathan and I followed the deer's blood trail which led to the portal." Nancy ended and Jonathan nodded in agreement.

"So maybe if we attracted the Demogorgon with blood it will lead us to a portal, we could all work together to save Will and Barb." Mike said excitedly and Nancy shook her head vigorously. "No one is going near that thing, we need to tell someone, someone who can help us." Nancy said. "My mom knows." Jonathan informed them. "She's told Chief Hopper but he doesn't really seem to believe her but if he could see the portal or even the Demogorgon he could help us." Jonathan ended and Mike shook his head in disagreement. "No, we can't let anyone know about El. She's in danger." Mike said and Lacey answered this time, "It's better to have the chief of police on our side if anything happens to her." Dustin and Lucas seemed to agree with Lacey's statement. "He's got connections to keep her safe." Jonathan agreed.

After talking for a few moments the group agreed to inform Mrs Byers and Chief Hopper about everything they know, well everyone agreed but Mike but the majority overruled and Mike was not happy about it.

Mrs Byers arrived home about an hour later and the kids were still there. They decided they needed to tell her today. Joyce was surprised to find all the kids there, young and old, and sat down on the couch to hear their story. Once they'd introduced El to Mrs Byers, Jonathan retold his and Nancy's encounter with the Demogorgon and the upside down. "We need to tell Hopper." Joyce advised and the group nodded except Mike who was still sulking. Joyce picked up the telephone and dialled the stations number. Flo, Jim's assistant, answered and advised Joyce that Jim was on his way to their house anyway. He apparently had something urgent he needed to discuss with Joyce. Joyce hung up the phone and informed the group in front of her. Joyce went over to El and started asking her questions. Jonathan pulled Lacey and Nancy aside and whispered to them, "I think we should kill this thing. As long as it's dead it's not going to harm Will." He said and Nancy agreed. Lacey was hesitant but then she agreed too.

When the doorbell rang Joyce jogged over to the door and opened it revealing a very disturbed looking Jim Hopper.

Once Jim was inside he noticed all the kids. "What is this, day care?" He asked with a chuckle and Lacey saw Dustin roll his eyes and she shot him a warning look.

"Hop, we have something to tell you." Joyce said and started telling him the stories the kids had told her. "This is who now?" He asked, staring at Eleven who looked back at him unfazed. "Eleven." Mike said, proudly. "She can help us find Will." Lucas added and the boys nodded in agreement. "You were at the Hawkins Lab?" He asked Eleven who nodded slowly, she hadn't told the others this yet but since he was older and held a weapon she felt more comfortable telling him that's where she came from. Everything seemed to become clearer to Jim now. He looked at Joyce and pulled her aside. "Look, I know where the opening is to this upside down but the kids aren't coming with us." He stated and Joyce looked at him wide eyed. "Where is it?" She asked curiously, "Hawkins Lab." He responded. "How did you find that out?" Joyce asked, a little confused.

"I went to the Lab because everything seems to lead back there I've been doing my own research on this case." He informed her and Joyce gave him an appreciative look.

"The girl, she can help us find Will once we're in there." Joyce said to Hopper who looked back at the kids.

"Would you be able to help us?" Joyce turned to Eleven now and asked her nicely.

Eleven's eyes grew wide but she nodded slowly.

"How did you kids find out about this?" Jim turned to the others and Dustin spoke up, "Well the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field and that can change the directions of a compass needle, our compasses weren't pointing to true North they were pointing in the direction of the magnet, we were following the compass when we found Nancy and Jonathan so we didn't really get further than here." He told the chief who nodded, "And our science teacher Mr Clarke told us about electromagnetic fields last semester." Lucas added and the others nodded.

"And how did you two find out about this?" He asked Nancy and Jonathan who told their part of the story. "And you Ms Henderson?" He turned to Lacey now who looked over at Joyce, "I was here with Mrs Byers when the creature came out of the wall." She said and Hopper looked at Joyce and then back at Lacey and nodded.

"I've seen the gate so I will go to Hawkins Lab and see if we can get Will somehow." He turned to Eleven this time. "Will you be able to find him in there when I'm in there, direct me somehow?" He asked and Eleven nodded.

"I'm coming with you Hop." Joyce stated and Jim frowned and shook his head. "No, it's too dangerous." He said and Joyce retorted angrily, "He is my boy Hop, mine. Don't test me." Hopper continued to frown but eventually gave in after beginning to feel uncomfortable with the stare contest he was having with Joyce.

The kids had already gathered around Eleven who was sitting cross legged with her eyes covered by a blindfold. They'd turned the TV on to a static channel. It seemed they'd started the search already. Hopper watched Eleven closely. She seemed to go into a trance but nothing came of it. She was frustrated and ripped the blindfold off aggressively. The blood trickled down her nose. Mike got up quickly and asked if she was ok but Eleven shook her head. "I can't…" This was all she said. "She seems tired, does this happen?" Joyce asked and the others shrugged. They hadn't seen her use her powers all that often but maybe she had and that's why she was tired. Dustin look at El's sleeve and there was dry blood on it. Dustin's eyebrows rose, nearly disappearing into his hair before he whispered to Lucas, "You don't think she could've manipulated the compasses do you?" Dustin asked and Lucas frowned. "And maybe she's tired from using her powers all that time…" Lucas replied and Dustin nodded. Mike watched the two boys whisper to each other before clearing his throat. "Is there something you guys want to say?" He asked and Dustin beckoned Mike over to them. "Dustin noticed dry blood on her sleeve, do you think she's been manipulating the compasses to go in a different direction? I overheard Hopper saying that the entrance to the upside down is at Hawkins Lab and we are nowhere near Hawkins lab." Lucas commented and Mike frowned this time. "Are you saying she's been lying to us?" Mike asked, confused. Dustin shook his head, "Maybe trying to divert us from Hawkins Lab because it's dangerous, remember when you said the kind of danger we're in is danger, danger, maybe she was protecting us." "Dustin said and Mike nodded slowly. "That's why her powers aren't working, she's been overusing them with the compass." Lucas stated and Mike looked back at Eleven who looked frustrated. "Let me talk to her." He said and went over.

Lacey had been listening to the conversation and butted in, "Look guys, if El hadn't done that with the compasses we wouldn't have found Nancy and Jonathan and we would still be in the same position as we were before, knowing nothing. At least we're now all in the loop of what's going and there's more of us to help find Will and Barb and stop that thing." She ended and the boys nodded. El smiled at Lacey thankfully and the boys backed off.

"How long will it take for you to recharge?" Mike asked and El shrugged but then spoke, "The bath." "Huh?" Mike asked and the others gathered around now. "I can find them in the bath." "Like the one I saw at the lab" Hopper asked and Eleven nodded.

"Well where are we going to find a bath that big?" Hopper asked turning to Joyce who shrugged. Dustin jumped up this time and ran to the phone. He dialled Mr Clarke's house number quickly and when Mr Clarke answered on the fourth ring Dustin hurriedly spoke ignoring Mr Clarke's grunts of annoyance. "Hey Mr Clarke, Do you know anything about sensory deprivation, specifically how to build one?" Dustin called for a pen and paper and scribbled notes on the pad once Joyce handed him one. Once he'd finished chatting with Mr Clarke he hung up the phone and spoke to Mike and Nancy, "Do you guys still have that kiddie pool we used for Halloween?" Nancy shrugged but Mike nodded. "Good, then we just need salt, lot of it." He said looking at the adults now. "How much is lots?" Joyce asked and Dustin ended, "1,500 pounds."

"Where can we get that much salt?" Joyce turned to Hopper.

"Come with me." Hopper said and Joyce and the kids all followed Hopper to the door. Jonathan stopped Lacey and Nancy before they joined, "Let's stay." He whispered and the two girls looked at each other, confused but they both caught on eventually and nodded. "You guys go, we will meet you there in Nancy's car." Jonathan said to the group who nodded and headed out. "We're doing this now?" Nancy asked, shocked but Jonathan nodded, "We need weapons though." Lacey said and Jonathan nodded. "We'll go to the hardware store." He replied before grabbing Nancy's car keys and heading for the door. "Come on, while they do that we can kill this thing." Jonathan stated.

The two girls followed Jonathan out the door wondering if they were about to make a huge mistake.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Lacey, Jonathan and Nancy reached the hardware store, the car screeched to a halt outside and the three got out in a rush. Nancy was the first to enter, the bell at the top of the door that they'd entered rang and the person who was currently on shift looked up. Jonathan waved at the man casually who nodded and went back to his magazine that he'd been reading. The three dashed down the aisles, grabbing what they thought they would need. Jonathan found a baseball bat and some large nails. He would hammer the nails into the bat for more effect. Nancy and Lacey grabbed some smaller supplies and once they'd come across the bear trap and decided to purchase it they figured they had enough. They didn't understand why there was a bear trap in the hardware store in the first place but they shrugged it off. Once they were at the till ready to cash up, the teller looked over their purchases and eyed the three suspiciously. "What are you guys up too?" He asked curiously and Nancy replied, "Monster hunting…" The man looked at them all and laughed, "Well, you three be safe out there." He ended and Jonathan paid for the supplies before Lacey and Nancy grabbed the bags and headed out the door. "You don't think he's going to alert someone do you?" Nancy asked and Lacey looked over her shoulder back at the man who had gone back to his magazine. "Nope, he looks hopeless." Lacey finished and stored all the items they'd purchases into the trunk of Nancy's car.

"Let's get going." Nancy said hurriedly before they zoomed back up the road towards the Byer's house.

Inside the Byers residence, Jonathan was hammering the nails into the bat and Lacey and Nancy were placing the bear trap in Will's room. They would lead the creature to Will's room and burn it if it came down to that. Lacey then went on to line the hallway with gasoline; the smell was horrible but she was able to finish it without gagging. The Christmas lights were still littered around the Byer's house, this was how they would track the Demogorgon because according to Joyce Byers the lights flickered when Will was close.

Jonathan brought up a shotgun from the basement. He handed it to Nancy. "Seriously?" Lacey questioned, her eyes wide with surprise and Jonathan nodded, "We need all the help we can get and Nancy is good with it." He responded and Lacey looked at Nancy who shrugged, "It's true." Lacey scoffed and Nancy frowned. "What is wrong with you, it seems like you've been off with me the whole day?" Nancy asked, curiously and Lacey frowned this time but she didn't respond.

"Okay, is everything in place?" Jonathan interrupted; they needed to do this now because the others could be back at any time.

Jonathan grabbed a knife from the kitchen and came out. "We need to cut." He advised and the girls nodded, "The more blood the better." Nancy agreed. They dug the knife into their skins and the blood started to drip. Nancy picked up the gauze and bandage and closed Jonathan's wound. Jonathan closed Lacey's and she closed Nancy's, once that was done they stood back to back in the middle of room in the shape of a triangle and walked around in circles until there was a frantic knock at the door. "NANCY!" It was Steve's voice. Nancy and Lacey looked at each other, Nancy's look was of confusion and Lacey's look was of annoyance. "NANCY, I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, I SEE YOUR CAR." He called and Nancy put the gun down and walked over to the door and opened it slightly. "Steve, you need to leave." She warned him and Steve nodded but continued to speak anyway, "Look, I told Lacey about us so I just thought I should warn you before…" He stopped speaking and looked at Nancy's hand. "What happened to your hand?" He asked as he saw the blood seeping out of the bandage that obviously wasn't wrapped tight enough. "Did Jonathan do that…?" He started but paused again.

"NANCY!" Lacey called out when she and Jonathan noticed the lights flickering. "It's coming." Jonathan added and Steve pushed the door open, "Do I smell gasoline? Lacey what are you doing here?" He asked pushing past Nancy. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Steve cried out and Jonathan looked at his bat and then at Steve and decided that Steve would need protection more than he would and threw the bat at Steve. Steve caught it swiftly but looked at Jonathan, "What the hell man?" He asked and Jonathan nodded, "You're going to need it." They were now circling the room in a square shape, Jonathan and Steve back to back, Lacey and Nancy back to back. Steve was on Lacey's right but Nancy spoke first. The lights were still flickering and they needed to be on full alert but she still spoke, "Look, Lacey I'm sorry about what happened with Steve okay, it didn't mean anything, it was stupid." Lacey looked at Steve who looked at her and nodded. "If anything, you guys need to be together." She continued. "You've both been miserable, you've been acting crazy and doing crazy things…" She added but before she finished there was a shrill scream that came out of no-where. The wall where Lacey and Mrs Byers had seen Will before glowed and throbbed like a heartbeat once again. A claw scratched through the wall paper and the Demogorgon appeared before them. It turned to the teenagers, and once it had found its feet its face opened into a flower shape, baring sharp pointy teeth, letting out a shriek.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Steve screamed, wide eyed.

The Demogorgon attacked, hearing the sound of Steve's voice. It darted towards Steve but Nancy fired a shot which only seemed to make the creature angrier. Steve held the bat out at arm's length and before they knew it Steve was beating the creature with the bat. Slime and whatever the Demogorgon was made out of, splattered all over them, but the creature continued to fight back until Steve beat its leg off. The Demogorgon screeched in what sounded like pain and advanced towards Lacey who didn't have a weapon on her. Nancy shot at it again but the bullet went straight through it and hit the window which shattered. Jonathan jolted behind the Demogorgon to try and leer it into the bear trap. The Demogorgon turned in the direction of the window shattering which was where Jonathan was now. Steve had been ready to take on the creature for Lacey who noticed this. She nodded in thanks and Steve smiled at her before going back to the creature. Nancy threw the shot gun at Jonathan who managed to catch it. He shot into Will's room which caused the Demogorgon to head in there. They heard the bear trap snap shut and the Demogorgon screamed again. Lacey grabbed the matches off the table and threw them to Jonathan. After a few shrieks from the creature there was silence. Jonathan had lit a match but blew it out when the silence filled their ears. "It has to be dead right?" Nancy whispered and Lacey looked at her and shrugged. She really didn't know. Once they were all crowded outside Will's room they peered in and gasped. The creature was gone.

"What the hell man!" Jonathan cried out in frustration. He stormed up the passage and put the gun down on the table. Steve, Nancy and Lacey proceeded to follow him but Steve clutched onto the bat. "Where did it go?" Steve asked, confused and the three looked at him. They all realized that Steve didn't know anything about what was going on in Hawkins. "The school." Lacey said suddenly. Jonathan looked at Nancy, "Do you think?" He asked and Nancy, suddenly grabbing whosever car keys were the closest and throwing them to Jonathan, said "Let's go!"

"Will someone tell me what's going on here?" Steve questioned once they were all in the car, it turned out to be Steve's car keys that Nancy had grabbed. Jonathan had wanted to drive but Steve refused and got into the driver's seat. Out of habit Lacey had gotten into the passenger seat and Nancy and Jonathan were made to sit in the back. Steve had handed Lacey the bat once she got into the car. She wondered why he'd brought it with but then didn't bother to ask because he'd now asked the question no one wanted to answer. The three didn't respond to Steve immediately. "Is this why everyone has been acting weird these past few days?" Steve asked again. His panic had subsided and now he just wanted answers. They were near the school and once they arrived at the school they saw the commotion. Half of the middle school was on fire. There was a fire truck and a few firemen hovering around the place trying to put the fire out. The police department were there in full force.

Steve parked his car and once Jonathan and Nancy had run off to find the others Lacey looked over at Steve who was staring at the school in shock. "Look Steve, now is not the time to explain everything but we will explain once everything is over." Lacey informed him and took his hand in hers. "Will you help me find Dustin?" She asked. Steve nodded and held Lacey's hand while they searched the crowd for Dustin.

"MIKE" Karen Wheeler wailed when she saw her son. "Are you okay, what happened?" She asked the questions. Lacey saw Nancy standing by Mike who looked upset.

Jonathan was seen talking to a police officer. "DUSTIN?" Lacey called out into the crowd. She eventually found Dustin with Lucas. They were talking animatedly about what happened in the school. Dustin and Lacey's mom Claudia also came into view after talking to the police. "LACEY!" Claudia cried, "Why are you two so dirty? "She asked, looking at Lacey and Steve in disgust. They'd forgotten that they were probably covered in Demogorgon guts after Steve beat the creature. "What happened here?" Steve asked, curiously. "The police say it was a science experiment gone wrong." Claudia responded. "Dusty and his friends were involved." She added. Dustin frowned, "Mom, we're fine, stop stressing about." Dustin responded and pointed to himself and Lucas in the process. "Well the school's not fine, they'll probably claim damage to private property or something like that." Claudia added and Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Should we go home?" Claudia asked and Lacey paused, "Hang on a sec mom." Karen was now speaking to the police and Nancy and Mike were standing alone, "Is everything ok?" Lacey asked the two. "The Demogorgon is gone but so is Eleven." Nancy whispered to Lacey who looked over at Mike and realized why he was looking so forlorn. Jonathan came over to them now. "They found Will." He cried out to them in shock. "Are you serious?" Mike asked a glint of happiness in his voice. "Mom and the Chief, found him. They're taking him to the hospital." He added with a nod and a smile.

"Would you mind taking me there?" Jonathan asked Steve who nodded, "Sure." He responded. Lacey smiled at Steve who smiled back at her.

"How about we all go?" Jonathan asked and Dustin and Lucas came over to Mike and nodded in agreement. "I'll drive the boys." Karen Wheeler said with a nod and that's when Dustin and Lacey's mom came over. "What's happening?" She asked curiously, "They found Will, he's being taken to the hospital." Dustin responded in delight. "That's amazing!" Claudia said and the others nodded. "Mrs Wheeler will take the boys and we'll go with Steve." Lacey informed her mom who nodded. "I'll see you kids at home later then." She nodded and walked off. Lacey, Nancy, Jonathan and Steve walked off to Steve's car. "What about Barb?" Nancy suddenly said remembering her friend, she felt disgusted in herself that she'd forgotten. "Let's get to the hospital and find out." Lacey responded and Nancy nodded slowly but looked back and then agreed because the boys had already gotten into her mom's car.

When they reached Hawkins general hospital they scurried into the reception area where they saw Hopper. Joyce was obviously with Will in the doctors rooms.

"What is he doing here?" Jim Hopper asked looking at Steve.

"What happened to you guys?" He asked again after looking the foursome over and seeing them all dirty. "We tried to fight The Demogorgon." Jonathan informed Hopper who looked at Jonathan and then at Steve and then the girls. "Its fine, he knows, he did the most damage to the thing." Lacey told the chief of police who looked Steve over once more then nodded.

Once the kids arrived with Mrs Wheeler, Jim called all of them over to discuss what had happened. Mrs Wheeler was told to hang back while they talked

The kids told their story animatedly, informing that Eleven had destroyed the creature but had then vanished with the Demogorgon into wherever they went. Nancy, Jonathan & Lacey recounted their story with the Demogorgon. Dustin looked at his sister wide eyed. "You'd never do something like that." He advised and Lacey rolled her eyes at him but Dustin laughed. "When did Steve get involved?" Dustin asked curiously and Steve told Dustin his part. "Steve 'the hair' Harrington fighting a beast, thought I'd never see the day." Jonathan joked and the others laughed. Mike still looked sad but when Mrs Byers came out of the room with a smile on her face she called them over, "He's finally awake, you guys can see him now, let Jonathan go first though." Joyce said with a nod and the two went back into the room.

"What about Barb?" Nancy asked Chief Hopper and then looked at Mike and the others. "Uh…" Dustin started but the Chief interrupted. "It seems like Ms Holland didn't make it." Chief Hopper informed Nancy. Nancy nodded slowly. She didn't say anything more, she just walked away, she wanted to be alone. Lacey watched Nancy walk off and felt her throat clog up. She realized she hadn't helped Nancy that much in finding Barbara because they were more focused on Will. Steve looked at Lacey, "Follow her, she needs comfort." He advised and Lacey nodded. She followed Nancy and when she reached her she was crying. "I feel like I betrayed her somehow, I betrayed Barbara, I betrayed you, I haven't been a very good friend through this whole ordeal." She sobbed. Lacey took Nancy into her arms and gave her a hug. "You didn't know much about it in the beginning." Lacey informed her, "Don't beat yourself up. Barb was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Lacey added. Nancy sobbed harder, "Because of me, I forced her to go to Steve's party." "Nancy, it's not your fault, please stop blaming yourself." Lacey continued to hug Nancy who eventually calmed down. She wiped the excess tears away and looked at Lacey. "I am really sorry for everything, Lace." Nancy said and Lacey shook her head, "Don't worry about it now." Lacey responded and Nancy nodded. The two girls walked back to the group. Nancy stood close to Mike who looked happier now that he was going to see Will. "Come on kids." Joyce called them to the room.

Once they were all inside and saw Will, excitement overcame them. The boys jumped onto Will's bed and started recounting the story to him. Will looked shocked, amazed, amused and baffled all at the same time. Lacey smiled but then felt someone tug on her arm. She turned around and saw that it was Steve. He gestured for them to leave the boys and go out the room. Lacey nodded and followed him. Once they were outside in the hallway Steve turned to Lacey. He leaned again the wall suavely. "Look, I know this is probably not the right time to ask you this but I just wanted to know, are we okay, I've missed you these passed days and I just wish things could go back to normal?" He asked and Lacey looked at Steve and then at her feet. She didn't know what to say to him. She shuffled her feet around a bit and then decided to speak, "Okay, why don't we see how the rest of Summer goes?" She asked and Steve nodded. He pulled her into a hug and they cuddled for a while before Lacey looked up at him and gave him a quick peck. He smiled down at her and felt content.

**Ok so I've finished the first season like this. If anyone wants more feel free to review and then I will go onto season 2. I've got a few ideas for Season 2 but if anyone would like to assist with some ideas your help is appreciated.**

**Thank you for following and favouring.**


	8. Season 2 - Chapter 8

**Season 2 – CHAPTER 8**

It was the start of a new school year and the kids had semi-recovered from the events that happened at the beginning of Summer. Lacey and Steve had remained together throughout the rest of the summer and things were running smoothly for them until the first day of school started.

They were sitting in Steve's car in the parking lot waiting for first period to start when the sound of a car engine roared through the air. Lacey and Steve got out of his car to look at the car that was making the noise. Nancy arrived at Steve's BMW at this point and the three watched the newbies get of the blue Camaro that had just parked under a nearby tree.

A young man with blonde hair in the style of a mullet, puffing on a cigarette, got out the car. A younger girl with long red hair got out of the passenger seat holding a skateboard. She didn't say anything to the guy before she skated off towards the middle school. The guy looked at his surroundings with a sneering expression on his face before he threw his cigarette to the ground. He slammed the car door and proceeded towards the school.

"Wow, who is that?" Nancy asked Lacey and Steve who looked at Nancy and shrugged. "He doesn't look too inviting does he?" Lacey commented and Nancy agreed.

Lacey and Steve decided it was time to head into the school so they shut the doors of his maroon BMW and walked into the school with Nancy.

Lacey and Nancy's lockers were next to each other but Steve's was further along the corridor so he bid the ladies goodbye before heading to his own.

"So I know we're not allowed to speak about what happened last Summer but I can't help thinking about Barb's parents, I can't get them out of my head. They don't know the real story." Nancy started and Lacey looked around her to see if anyone was listening to them. "Nancy, you know what Hopper said, we can't tell anyone about this. It's government stuff." Lacey ended and Nancy frowned.

"But how do you feel? You don't talk about it that much, Steve, Jonathan and I chat about it all the time but you seem to cut yourself off?" She questioned the brunette who nodded. "I don't like to think about it let alone talk about it." Lacey responded. Nancy shut her locker and frowned again at her friend who was adjusting her navy jacket. "Listen Nance, you guys can talk about it all you want just leave me out of it." She ended before shutting her own locker. The two girls walked towards first period, English with Mrs Kingsley. The new kid they'd seen earlier was waiting at reception. Lacey eyed him out curiously and he seemed to feel her eyes on him because when he turned to find the culprit their eyes locked automatically. Lacey looked away almost immediately and concentrated on entering the class.

Once inside the class Nancy and Lacey sat next to each other as usual and Carol sat behind them with Tina. "Did you guys see that new guy?" Tina questioned the two brunettes who nodded and rolled their eyes. "He's so hot!" Tina exclaimed before blowing her brunette bangs out of her face. "I'm going to get me some of that!" She added with a giggle before turning back to Carol and gossiping some more.

"What is it with this town and new people?" Nancy asked Lacey who shrugged, "I'm guessing it's because Hawkins is pretty boring for people who aren't silenced by the government." Lacey responded in a sarcastic whisper. Nancy chuckled a little but stopped when Mrs Kingsley started talking.

When it was finally lunch time Lacey met up with Steve outside of the cafeteria. He looked like he was in a bad mood.

"Is everything okay?" Lacey asked him and he grunted in annoyance before pulling her into the cafeteria with him.

"Tommy." Steve moaned while pointing to the table they usually sat at after they had gotten their lunch. The new guy, whose name was Billy who was found out by Tina in third period was also with Tommy and Carol, Tina and Nicole were lapping up his every word.

When Lacey found Nancy in the sea of students she also looked a little lost because last year they all occupied the table but since Steve had chucked Tommy and Carol to the curb things were different and clearly the three of them needed to find another table to sit at.

Jonathan who was inside getting his lunch, noticed Nancy looking awkward, pulled her over to him. "Most of us usually just sit out by our cars and eat lunch to avoid cafeteria drama." He advised her with a small smile on his face and she nodded, thankful for his help. Nancy scanned the room for Lacey and Steve and when her eyes fell upon them she jerked her head towards the doors that led outside and continued on with Jonathan.

Lacey nodded to Nancy and her and Steve walked in the direction the other two just exited. Steve held onto Lacey's hand as they made their way out of the cafeteria but just as they passed the table Lacey's eyes locked with Billy's again. This time it was more awkward because he smirked at her and licked his bottom lip seductively before she turned away.

"Ugh, I can't believe this!" Steve complained loudly once they were out in the open.

"Steve, it's not that big a deal." Nancy advised but that just made Steve more annoyed.

"I'm trying to be a good person but I get treated like this and some new guy tries to take my place?" Steve whined. Lacey put her hands on Steve's shoulders to stop him from freaking out and he stared at her, "Steve, you're being the best person." He smiled at her warmly and pulled her into a hug. "I love you, you know that right?" She told him and he nodded again and kissed her. "Don't worry about Tommy or Carol or the new guy, you're way better than all of them." Nancy added and Lacey nodded in agreement. Jonathan scoffed and the three turned to look at him. "Sorry…" He muttered before getting off the hood of his car and placing his camera into the vehicle. "Thank guys, I'm sorry I just don't know how to do High School without being King!" He stated honestly and Jonathan patted Steve on the shoulder, "Don't worry man, you'll get lessons from the best." He added pointing to himself and the girls chuckled. At that moment the bell rang which meant they needed to get to fifth period.

Steve and Lacey shared this class together and it turned out they now shared it with the new guy - Billy. He seemed to have made fast friends with Tommy H and Carol because he was sitting with them at the back of the class. Steve used to sit with them too but now he sat in the middle row with Lacey and Billy outwardly took Steve's old seat like he owned it which Lacey noticed, made Steve seethe with anger.

Billy was telling a story which Tommy was listening to with utter interest. Tommy had always needed a leader, Lacey realized. Steve had been his leader before and now he was quickly making Billy his new one.

It felt like the lesson dragged on for much longer than it needed to be with Billy's snarky comments and Tommy and Carol's snickers towards Steve. Lacey felt her blood boil and wanted to slap all of them like she'd slapped Tommy at Tammy's party.

After the class Tommy cornered Steve on the way out, "We missed you at lunch Stevie boy." He mocked and Lacey had stopped walking ahead and turned to see how the confrontation would ensue. Steve chose to ignore Tommy who continued and as Lacey was about to interject Billy interrupted her, "Hey there." He said, the same smirk plastered on his face as before. "I don't believe we've met, I'm Billy Hargrove." He held out his hand for her to shake but Lacey ignored it. "You're in my way." Lacey informed Billy point blank. "Come on boys enough now" Mr Phillips bellowed from the front of the class before Lacey could intervene. Tommy shoved past Steve who looked at Lacey apologetically. "I'll see you around." Billy purred in Lacey's ear before exiting the classroom with the others. Steve sighed and Lacey walked out the room with him silently.

The rest of the day went by and once the bell rang for the end of the day Lacey couldn't wait to get out of there.

Lacey didn't wait for Steve like she normally would because he had basketball practice that afternoon so she sped out of the school as if her life depended on it.

Once she was home she walked in on Dustin speaking with their mom Claudia about the party's choice of Halloween's outfits this year. "We want to go as the ghostbusters but Mike and Lucas are arguing about who should be Venkman and who should be Winston." Dustin complained to their mother who listened intently. The middle schoolers usually wore their costumes to school.

Lacey smiled as she watched her brother talk animatedly about Lucas and Mike's argument and wished that those were the only worries she had in her life.

"How was school darling?" Claudia turned to her oldest and smiled.

"Ugh, you know." Lacey said with a shrug and Claudia nodded, "And Steve?" She added and Lacey nodded, "He's going through some things right now, I'm just going to try and be there for him the most I can." She responded and Claudia nodded. Claudia knew the tough transition her daughter and her friends were going through as teenagers because she was her age once and went through the same thing but she knew better than to pry further.

The next day's events at school were minor compared to the day before. Lacey had one run in with Billy where he cornered her by her locker making her feel uncomfortable. He eyed her out like a piece of meat and spoke dirty nothings in her ear. She pushed him away as soon as he started knowing he was only doing it to get a rise out of Steve even though Steve wasn't there at the time but spying eyes known as Tina and Carol were and Lacey knew they would run to Steve and exaggerate a story which would only infuriate Steve even more.

Just before lunch Lacey met up with Nancy at their lockers and while Lacey was shoving her books in it Nancy waved a flier in her face. "Come and get sheet-faced." Lacey read out loud and Nancy nodded, "We're going!" Nancy confirmed and Lacey groaned, "Where?" Lacey grabbed the flier and saw that it was Tina's party. "We need to have a little fun, you know, act like normal teenagers." Nancy added and Lacey frowned a little before seeing Steve walking towards them. "Try and convince him." She said and Nancy looked up at Steve when he joined, Jonathan joining shortly after. "We're going to this and I don't care what you guys say." She stated shoving the flier into Steve's chest dramatically. The boys read the flier together, Steve agreeing almost immediately to Lacey's surprise but Jonathan shook his head vigorously "I don't do parties and besides I'm spending Halloween with my Will." He responded and Nancy frowned, "What do you mean, you'll go trick or treating with him which will end at about 8pm then you'll spend the rest of the night listening to the clash or whatever." Lacey watched the two exchange words but then her gaze turned to Steve's. "Was Hargrove bothering you again today?" He whispered and Lacey sighed. Word had got out. "I'm fine Steve, don't worry about it." Lacey reassured him and he looked at her wearily before zoning back to Nancy and Jonathan's conversation where they both heard Jonathan say "Fine, Maybe." Nancy grinned at him and the four of them headed to lunch.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N This is just a cute look at how Lacey and Steve are working on their relationship even with the obstacles. I do believe I haven't touched on their relationship in detail. **

**Chapter 9**

Halloween rolled around a few days later and Lacey grinned at her brother in his ghostbusters uniform that morning before they headed to school. "You look so cute Dusty." Claudia Henderson cooed at her youngest child. Dustin frowned, "I don't want to look cute, I want to look tough." Dustin responded and Lacey laughed, "Tough as nails." She said with a wink at her mom who laughed now. "Guys!" Dustin whined earning him more laughter from his mom and sister.

"Are you riding to school?" Lacey asked and Dustin nodded. "Ok, be safe, I'm going to go mom and don't forget I have that dinner with Nancy and the Holland's tonight and I'm staying at hers." She lied and her mom nodded before continuing to take photos of Dustin. Lacey adjusted her duffle bag on her arm before heading out the door to see Steve waiting for her in his car. He'd fetched her every day since they had started school and she liked to spend the alone time with him.

"Good morning beautiful!" Steve exclaimed before planting a kiss on Lacey's puckered lips. "Good morning boyfriend." She responded while shoving her bag on the backseat. As Steve reversed Lacey sighed, "I had to lie to mom and say we had dinner with the Holland's tonight and I was staying at Nancy's after." Lacey informed Steve who looked at her in surprise, "Where exactly will you be staying then? "He asked, a grin forming across his perfect face while he stared ahead at the road.

Lacey smiled to herself when she noticed his grin, "My parents are away." Steve added and she nodded. "I know." She responded and Steve sent her a sideways glance, grin still in place. "Are you trying to ask me if you can stay over?" Steve suggested and Lacey while looking down at her hands nodded, slightly embarrassed.

She had no idea why she was so nervous to ask Steve this simple question. It's not like they hadn't stayed at his house before without his parents there. One of the first times she did was when she'd lost her virginity to him and there had been plenty more times after that. Perhaps it was because she'd taken a sabbatical from intimacy with him when they got back together over the Summer. She knew he was slightly frustrated about the situation and even though it was her decision it was driving her just as crazy so she knew it had to come to an end sometime.

"Obviously it's ok Lace." He informed her after he noticed she was quiet for a while. He placed his hand on her thigh. She felt the jolt of electricity shoot up her thigh and she looked at him with a smile on her face. He'd parked the car in the school parking lot when Lacey placed her hands on his cheeks and made him face her. She looked at him lovingly before kissing him seductively, biting his lower lip before pulling apart. Steve moaned as Lacey pulled away from him. "We could go right now." He joked and Lacey laughed. "Come on Steve, we're already late." She said while opening her door and getting out of the car.

At the end of the day Nancy and Jonathan joined Steve and Lacey at Steve's car. "Jonathan, I swear, if you don't come tonight…" Nancy was saying and Jonathan laughed, "You'll what?" He asked, jokingly. Tina walked past the group and called out, "Don't forget guys, 19:30." She smiled gleefully before hopping into her car.

"Ugh, you're invited?" Billy interjected after overhearing Tina. The group turned towards Billy and Lacey frowned at him while he turned to Tommy, "I thought you said this party was for cool people?" He joked before sauntering off towards his car with Tommy and Carol following him like puppy dogs. "I can't stand that guy." Jonathan voiced looking back at his friends and Steve agreed, "I don't know who he thinks he is." Steve added and the two boys began bitching about Billy. Nancy and Lacey looked at each other and rolled their eyes while both climbing into Steve's car. "Jonathan, we'll see you around 20:30." Nancy called out to him and he nodded with an eye roll of his own before he walked off towards his car. Steve got in and the three drove to Steve's house to get ready for the party.

Once inside the house Steve showed Nancy where the spare bedroom was while Lacey placed her stuff in Steve's room. When Steve returned he closed the door behind him "I'm sure Nancy won't mind." He added before walking up to Lacey. The two exchanged smiles and before Lacey knew it Steve was kissing her, passionately, hungrily. He hoisted her up so her legs wrapped around his waist. They fell onto the bed and Steve pressed himself into Lacey who moaned quietly. His hand was up her skirt, tracing her panties, ready to rip them off her when there was a small knock on the door. "Uh, Lace…" It was Nancy. Steve moaned and Lacey pushed him off of her. "Hey, Nance?" Lacey responded. "You said you'd do my hair remember?" Nancy asked, her voice sounding quieter than usual. "Sure come in…" Lacey said ignoring Steve's annoyed facial expressions and hand gestures. Lacey quickly fixed herself but Nancy opened the door to see the two sitting on the edge of Steve's bed looking flustered. Well this was awkward.

Steve got up and excused himself as Nancy entered. "Sorry if I…" Nancy started but Lacey stopped her, "Look, it's been a few weeks, I'm sure he can wait a little longer…" Lacey informed Nancy with a chuckle. "Wait you guys haven't been?" Nancy asked, shock showing on her face all too clearly. Lacey shook her head and turned Nancy's to face the mirror. "I think we're both just a little frustrated but we both agreed to …" Lacey advised Nancy who nodded in understanding.

Once they had finished up the girls joined Steve downstairs. He was wearing dark jeans with a black shirt, black jacket and black ray bans dressed as none other than Tom Cruise in Risky Business and Lacey stared at him for a while taking in how handsome he was. Lacey had dressed up as Lana, the prostitute Tom Cruise's character hired for the weekend in the movie. Nancy was dressed as Sandy before the makeover from the movie Grease.

When they arrived at the party it was chaos. Once they entered the house they heard chants of Billy's name while Motley Crew's Shout at the devil blared through the speakers. They stood around watching the party unfold before cheers echoed from outside. Lacey saw Billy enter from the outside area. He was wearing jeans and a leather jacket, showing off his tanned, toned chest. He was also puffing on a cigarette and while Lacey watched him take some toilet paper that had been hanging from the ceiling to wipe his face off of what looked like beer, he spotted the three of them standing there and made a beeline for Steve, Tommy and Carol following after him.

"We've got ourselves a new Keg King Harrington." Tommy jeered, gesturing his head to Billy. Steve took off his glasses and stared Billy down. Nancy rolled her eyes and pulled Lacey with her to find a drink, leaving the boys in an alpha stare down. Lacey turned her head to try and see what was going to happen with the boys but was distracted by a toga clad guy shoving his cup into a punch bowl. "What's in this?" Nancy asked curiously and the kid shouted, "PURE FUEL!" before gulping down another cup. Nancy grabbed two red solo cups and filled them up with the liquid, handing one to Lacey.

"Here's to being stupid teenagers for the night!" Nancy cheered Lacey's cup and the two girls downed the drink.

They both got another cup of the drink when Steve found them in the kitchen. He watched the two down the drinks again and saw Nancy go off into the crowd. Lacey reached for more of the alcohol but Steve stopped her, "Slow down okay?" He asked and Lacey frowned before dipping her cup into the bowl. "Isn't this what you do at parties?" She asked him before sauntering off into the crowd after Nancy.

Steve looked at the punch but decided to get a beer instead. He found the keg outside and poured his cup half full. He took a sip and looked at his surroundings. He usually revelled in parties but it wasn't the same anymore and now that he seemed to be dethroned of Keg King, people seemed to look straight passed him but he was going to try and get through the night without letting that get to him.

Nancy and Lacey had been dancing for a while now in the living room when Steve joined them again. They were all dancing now and Lacey felt relieved that Steve had started to enjoy himself until Billy and Tommy joined them this time. Billy started to creep in on Nancy much to Lacey's dismay. Nancy frowned when she felt Billy behind her and turned around and eyed him suspiciously. "Can we help you?" She asked, sarcastically. Billy let out a laugh, "I'm just having some fun darling." He responded, with a sultry smirk on his face. He moved over to Lacey and Lacey felt his body heat radiate on her back. "Come on Billy, let's leave these losers." Tommy asked while looking around for Carol.

Steve felt his blood boiling as he watched Billy grind on Lacey. He was trying to think of a way to handle the situation without violence because he knew if he threw the first punch he'd have to deal with others too which he didn't feel like doing right now.

Lacey eyed Steve out to see how he was reacting but she noticed that he was in deep thought, not even concentrating on what was happening so she took it in her own hands to get Billy the hell away from her. She turned to face him, "Can you stop?" She asked him, anger seeping through her words like poison. She glared at him as he put her hands on her hips, "Come on, we're just having fun, aren't we King Steve?" Billy mocked, staring at Steve while his hands were still on Lacey's hips.

Jonathan had arrived at the party at this moment. When he arrived a kid in a toga was throwing up outside and people were making out everywhere. He was dressed in his own clothes, not one to get dressed up. When he entered the party he saw the commotion. Lacey had just slapped Billy across the face causing the party goers to stare. Steve had grabbed her wrist as she was about to slap him again and punched Billy in the face. Nancy had just seen Jonathan and rushed over to him as Billy lost his balance over Steve's punch. Tommy got involved and tried to hit Steve but Jonathan grabbed Steve by the shoulders. "Come on, let's go." Jonathan called and the four bolted for the door. "YOU'RE DEAD HARRINGTON!" Billy roared through the crowd, stumbling as he tried to make his way to the group who were already out the door. Nancy jumped into Jonathan's car and Lacey and Steve got into his.

They sped out onto the road and Lacey looked back where she saw Billy angrily shouting on the front porch of Tina's house.

Lacey and Steve's ride back to Steve's house had been quiet. Lacey watched as Steve's knuckles turned from white to red after punching Billy in the face. Her own hand was still stinging but she massaged it with the other.

Once inside the house Jonathan and Nancy went to the spare room and Lacey and Steve went to his room. Lacey closed the door behind her and walked up to Steve who was still quiet.

"Thank you." She said, placing a delicate kiss on his lips which soon turned into Steve pushing her against the wall, their lips crashing into each other, the two of them not wanting to come up for air but needing too, eventually falling onto the bed, tangled into one another, nails scratching, toes curling, his moans, her moans before they both collapsed into each other and fell asleep with smiles on their faces.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Thank you for my first review - ** ** -Peralta and to the follows/favorites from everyone. Here's the next chapter. I really enjoyed Season 2 so it's easier and much faster for me to write so updates should be frequent. PS sorry if it's shorter…**

"GUYS WE HAVE SCHOOL!" Nancy called, banging on Steve's door from the hallway. "Do you think they're awake?" Lacey heard Jonathan ask.

Lacey rolled over into Steve who smiled at her. "Can we just stay here all day?" He moaned before pulling her into a hug and kissing her forehead. Lacey grinned at him as Nancy started to knock again. "WE'RE COMING!" Lacey yelled and Nancy stopped and she heard them walk away. "Come on, we have to show our faces today otherwise it'll just be awkward." Lacey said, jumping up out of bed and going into the bathroom to turn on the shower.

Once they'd gotten dressed Lacey grabbed her bag and they walked out of Steve's room and down the stairs "It took you long enough!" Nancy complained before she and Jonathan walked out the door.

It was five minutes until the bell rang when they arrived at Hawkins High. Steve parked in the usual spot and they got out of the car. Lacey turned her head in the direction where Billy usually parked his car but it wasn't there. Lacey smiled at Steve who looked relieved. "Thank god." He stated and Lacey chuckled. "I'll see you at lunch." Lacey informed him and he nodded, pecked her and walked up to his locker. The bell rang as Nancy and Lacey went to English. Tina and Carol were absent from the class which helped with Lacey's looming headache, not having to hear them gossip and cackle every 5 minutes. Don't get Lacey wrong, Tina wasn't all bad it was Carol that was the problem and when they were together Tina liked to act the way Carol did.

They'd gone almost half of the day without bumping into Billy who seemed to have skipped first and second period and only arrived for third.

Lacey was grabbing her book for Math out of her locker when Billy approached. He leaned casually on Nancy's locker and eyed Lacey out with a devilish grin on his face. Lacey tried to ignore him but he cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Where's your boyfriend today Henderson?" He questioned and Lacey looked at him with a scowl on her face until she noticed there was a slight bruise forming below his left eye where Steve had punched him last night and Lacey couldn't help but smirk at him.

"You two are usually glued at the hip?" He pressed and Lacey continued with the silent treatment. "Oh and by the way it seems like you like it rough?" He asked, the grin on his face widening. Lacey knew he was talking about her slapping him last night and she couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Yeah, Steve does a good job." Lacey finished, slamming her locker shut. Billy didn't flinch but his grin had faded. She spun on her heel and strolled down the hall feeling his eyes burning on her back. She disappeared into the crowd and found her way to Math where Steve was waiting for her.

At the end of the day Steve and Lacey met at Steve's car as usual. Nancy and Jonathan had gone off somewhere so it was just the two of them today. Steve opened the door for Lacey and when Lacey was about to get in Billy called out for Steve.

"HEY, HARRINGTON…" He yelled across the car park and some students that were filing out of the school stopped to stare. Billy took his index finger and slid it across his throat then pointed it to Steve and ending with a flip of his middle finger.

Steve looked down at Lacey who shook her head, warning him not to start anything again so Steve nodded back and chose to ignore Billy. He closed Lacey's door and trotted over to his side and got into the car. They zoomed off and arrived at Lacey's house.

"Thanks." Lacey said to Steve who nodded and winked but before Lacey got out the car she turned again to him, "Are you afraid Billy's going to do something?" Lacey asked him and Steve shook his head but Lacey could see it in his eyes that he was just trying to be tough for her sake. "I feel like he's all talk no action and besides he didn't hit back last night?" Steve reminded Lacey and Lacey looked unconvinced. "Well that is because Jonathan pulled you away just before he could." Lacey added and Steve scoffed. "Look, don't worry about me, I've got this handled." He said and Lacey scoffed this time before kissing him. "I love you." She ended and he smiled and responded, "I love you too." She got out the car and headed into the house, duffle bag and school bag in hand. She noticed that Dustin wasn't home yet and her mom was still at the office so she got out her school books and placed them on the dining room table ready to start her homework.

A few hours later Dustin arrived home carrying 5 library books and his school backpack. Lacey looked up and Dustin startled himself when he saw her there. "Hey!" He greeted, casually but his eyes were darting around nervously. Dustin dashed to his room before Lacey could respond. Lacey watched her brother disappear and when he didn't show his face for the rest of the afternoon she decided to see what was going on. Around 17:00pm their mom called and asked Lacey if she could get started on dinner as she was stuck at the office. Lacey agreed and hung up and knew it was her chance to see what Dustin was up to.

She walked up the stairs and down the passage to Dustin's room but she nearly tripped over Yertle, Dustin's pet turtle on her way there. "What are you doing out of your cage little guy?" She questioned, picking up the reptile that retreated into his shell. She knocked on Dustin's door and her brother opened the door slightly, showing his head and arm that was holding one of the books he'd gotten from the library.

Lacey showed Dustin the turtle and he sighed in relief, "Thanks." He said, taking the turtle from her grip. "Mom called and asked me to get started on dinner so I'm going to make Mac and Cheese is that cool?" She asked and Dustin nodded hurriedly trying to close his door but Lacey stopped him. "Is everything alright?" She asked again and Dustin nodded, this time responding, "Yes, I'm just doing some light reading for science." He showed her the book and Lacey saw that it was regarding reptiles and amphibians. She nodded and before he managed to close his door Lacey said, "Keep an eye out on Yertle, you know how Mews is." Mews was their mother's cat and Lacey and Dustin sometimes swore she loved that cat more than them.

Lacey let Dustin close his door and she walked back to the kitchen to start on dinner.

The next day when Lacey drove past the middle school she noticed Mike and Lucas digging in the rubbish bin outside. Dustin, who'd left earlier than usual that morning, was standing with the same girl that had gotten out of Billy Hargrove's car on the first day, shielding Mike and Lucas from nosy kids who wanted to see what was going on.

They looked like they were bickering. Lacey frowned but continued on to the high school wanting anything less than to hang out with a relation of Billy.

A few minutes before Lacey drove by;

"Mike, stop being a baby and do it already!" Dustin ordered Mike and Mike crinkled his nose as he stood in the recycle bin outside of the middle school.

"This is disgusting, is it really necessary?" Max asked joining the boys but her nose pointed up in disgust.

"What the hell is going on?" Max added looking at Dustin.

"What do you think, we're looking for Dart." He confirmed and Max nodded, still with a look of disgust on her face but looking at Mike in the bin.

"Ugh!" Mike moaned coming up for air.

Lucas joined them at this point, "Well, well, well." He said looking at the trio.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Dustin said sarcastically looking at Lucas who rolled his eyes. "Where's Will?" Lucas asked, ignoring Dustin's remark. "He'll be here." Dustin responded and Lucas looked up at Mike. "So what, are you just going to stand there or are you going to help?" Mike questioned Lucas and Dustin. Dustin shook his head, pointing his two fingers to his eyes then the surroundings, but Lucas groaned and joined Mike in the bin.

Dustin saw Lacey drive by at this point and hoped she wouldn't stop and ask what they were doing.

Lacey arrived home and saw Dustin was there already. She opened the door but when she saw Dustin standing still in the middle of the passage staring at something Lacey cleared her throat. "Okay, okay I don't know what to say…" Dustin cried. Lacey looked around Dustin and uttered a cry herself or what she thought was a cry, no sound came out of her mouth. "Dart, what you did? "He asked the creature that was sitting on top of Mews, blood oozing out its mouth. "What is that?" Lacey finally found her voice and asked, shocked. It opened its mouth into a petal shape and sharp jagged teeth were seen while it screeched. The all too familiar screech of the Demogorgon that they'd fought last year.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Shit, shit, shit." Dustin groaned in a soft whisper while they sat in the kitchen listening to Dart chew up their mothers pet cat Mews.

"Where did you get that thing?" Lacey whispered angrily and Dustin put his finger to his lips and shushed his sister who frowned. "Dustin!" She warned and Dart made a hissing sound which made the two decide that they needed to get out of the house. Once they were outside Lacey turned on Dustin, "Seriously Dustin?" She questioned and Dustin groaned, "Look I didn't know it was a Demogorgon, two days ago it was the size of a small lizard." He informed Lacey who looked up at the house in surprise as if she could see the creature her brother had named Dart. "This thing has been in our house for two days?" Lacey asked, eyes widening in shock. Dustin nodded, "I found Dart on Halloween, in our trash." He informed and Lacey looked back at the house again, thinking. "But how is it now the size of a dog?" She asked, looking at Dustin seriously. "He must have moulted." Dustin explained and Lacey shuddered, imagining the Demogorgon shedding skin.

"How are we going to get it out of the house and how are we going to explain Mews to mom?" Lacey asked her younger sibling who didn't reply but Lacey saw his blue eyes narrow from the house to the storm cellar.

"I have an idea!" Dustin exclaimed looking at Lacey who nodded and gestured her hands in anticipation.

"We can lure him into the storm cellar and trap him in there while we go get help." He ended and Lacey nodded. It was actually a good plan.

Dustin went into the house slowly and quietly grabbed a three musketeer's bar that he had left over from his Halloween candy. "This is what I've been feeding him." He showed Lacey the chocolate bar and Lacey scoffed. "Seriously, you've been feeding him nougat?" She asked him and he nodded. "He likes it." Dustin said before placing some down by the front door and leading a path of it to the storm cellar entrance. Dustin then went back into the house to lure the Demogorgon outside. Once Dart was on the move Dustin told Lacey to hide in the shed and Dustin ran and hid with Lacey behind once Dart was spotted. The two watched with bated breath as Dart made its way to the cellar.

Once Dart had gone down into the cellar Dustin and Lacey dashed to the doors to lock them up. Dart hit his body into the door a few times and when it realized it wasn't escaping the banging stopped.

Lacey and Dustin had been pushing on the doors so it wouldn't get free either. Lacey eventually let out the breath that she'd been holding in and lay on the doors.

"I'm sorry." Dustin said to the Demogorgon who was now trapped, Lacey watched her brother closely, "But you ate my cat."

"We need to bury what's left of Mews. We can come up with an excuse later." Lacey said and Dustin nodded.

Once Mews was buried in the back garden Lacey and Dustin washed their hands and Dustin looked at Lacey. "Does Steve still have his bat?" He asked and Lacey shrugged. She got on the phone and dialled Steve's number. "Steve, do you still have your bat from last year?" She asked him, not even saying hello.

"Yup, why what's up?" He asked and Lacey looked at Dustin who nodded as if he could hear the conversation between the couple. "We need you to bring it to the house now." She ordered before hanging up the phone. She realized she'd been rude but she didn't have time to ponder over that.

Dustin had been radioing the party while they waited for Steve to arrive but no one was answering.

"Guys this is Dustin again, does anyone copy, this is a code red, I repeat, a code red! I really need someone to pick up here. Hopper's MIA and I've got a code red, a code red!" Dustin spoke into the walkie but no one responded. He spoke into the walkie a few minutes later while Lacey scrubbed Mews blood out of the carpet. "Alright, it's Dustin again. Seriously I have a code red…" He was interrupted by the voice of a little girl that sounded a lot like Lucas's sister Erica. "Could you please shut up?" She responded, "Erica?" Dustin questioned but continued on, "Erica, is Lucas there, Where is he?" Dustin asked the girl who in a nonchalant way responded with "Don't know, don't care."

"Listen, is he with Mike?" Dustin continued, rolling his eyes at Erica's response.

"Like I said, don't know don't care." She stated and Dustin, who was getting annoyed by now pressed on, "Please tell him its super important, tell him I have a code…" But Erica interrupted him, "A code red?" She asked and Dustin nodded to himself and smiled, "Exactly. "mmhmm, I got a code for you instead, it's called code shut-your-mouth." And the sound of radio static hummed through the speaker. "Erica?" Dustin asked and sighed in exasperation.

Steve arrived shortly after Dustin spoke with Erica. He was holding his bat when Lacey let him in the house hurriedly.

"What is going on?" He asked, looking at the Henderson siblings.

"Dustin…" Lacey said and looked at her brother who nodded.

"We've got a Demogorgon trapped in our cellar." He stated and Steve stared at the two, not sure if he should believe them or not.

"What?" He asked his voice was shrill.

Lacey looked at Dustin, "Explain more." Lacey ordered Dustin, who by now was shuffling his feet, not looking at the two older teens in the eyes.

"Ifoundthiscreatureinourtrashonhalloweenandtookitinasapetbutitturnsoutitisaminidemogorgonordemodog." Dustin said in a flurry of words. "What?" Steve asked again, looking at Lacey who sighed.

"Come on." Lacey said and dragged the two boys out of the house towards the storm cellar. "We need your help." Lacey said, pointing at the bat. "This thing ate Mews." Lacey added and she saw Dustin roll his eyes, "That's not the worst thing…" Dustin responded and Lacey frowned, "Dustin, you know mom loves that cat how do you think she's going to react when she finds out Mews is missing?" Lacey questioned and Steve's eyes darted from his girlfriend to her brother as the siblings bickered. "We could tell her that she ran away or something…" Dustin tried and Lacey started to say something back but Steve had had enough. "Come on guys, enough." He told the both of them, shaking his head. "I swear to god if this is some sort of prank..." Steve started to warn Dustin but Lacey shook her head, eyes wide with terror. Dustin slowly opened the doors and Steve walked down the steps. "We'll stay up here, in case he tries to escape." Dustin called down to Steve and they watched him disappear into the darkness. "Steve?" Lacey asked, quietly. Steve didn't respond immediately, "What's going on down there?" Dustin asked this time but Steve eventually appeared scaring the shit out of Lacey and Dustin, laughing.

"There's nothing down here." Steve stated, after he'd calmed down.

"What?" Dustin asked confusion in his words.

"Get down here and see for yourselves." Steve said, gesturing towards the darkness with his free hand. Lacey and Dustin looked at each other and pushed past Steve down the stairs. Lacey looked around as Steve flashed the torch Lacey had given him earlier. Dustin reached for the light hanging from the ceiling and turned it on, Dustin gasped and Lacey moved her head in the direction he was looking. "He moulted again." Dustin informed the two pointing at the gooey shed skin that was on the floor next to a hole in the ground that Dart had obviously dug and escaped through. Steve came over to see the find and whistled.

Lacey groaned and stomped up the stairs, Steve and Dustin following quickly. "Lacey what's going on?" Steve asked her and she turned to look at him, fear on her face. "We let it escape, it could be anywhere." She looked at Dustin who was looking just as frightened. "This can't happen again, no, no, no." Lacey said, shaking her head in panic, her face paler than usual.

Steve and Lacey hadn't really spoken about the events from last year and if Steve brought it up Lacey would shut off. He only really spoke to Jonathan and Nancy. Now Steve realized it was because she was shit scared of what happened last year. It wasn't that she didn't care that it happened which Nancy had brought up in the last conversation they'd had it was because she did care and didn't want it to happen again to anyone. She'd obviously held in all her emotions but she was letting them out now. It was the worst timing because now Steve had to control both of them.

Steve looked over at Dustin who seemed to be racking his brain for a solution, at least he was calmer than Lacey. The kid had always been smarter than them. Always. Obviously he'd lost his mind a bit, taking in a Demogorgon, but he did admit that he hadn't known what it was.

While Lacey panicked and Dustin paced Steve suggested an idea.

"We can lure him again, away from the town." Steve said and Dustin looked up paused his pace and nodded.

"We can get some meat or something." Steve added, Lacey was still pacing and panicking and mumbling to herself. She was going to be of no use right now so Steve had to rely on Dustin who was listening to Steve intently. "The junkyard!" Dustin chirped and Steve nodded, thankful that there was another brain assisting his because half of his was worrying about Lacey. Dustin ran into the house to grab buckets and some washing gloves, leaving Steve to deal with Lacey. He stepped in front of her and she walked into him not even realizing he was there. She looked up at him and he put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "I know you're freaking out but you can't right now Dustin needs you… I need you." Steve said to her and she nodded slowly but tears had started to trickle out of her eyes. "I knew you weren't that tough." He added and pulled her into a tight hug, his head was resting on the top of hers.

"I'm sorry." Lacey mumbled into Steve's chest and Steve shook his head. "There's nothing to be sorry about Lace." He assured his girlfriend who nodded. Her face was leaning against his chest and her breathing was calming down to match Steve's. Steve pulled her away and wiped away the tears that were left on her face.

Dustin came out of the house at this moment carrying the bucket and gloves. He saw Steve consoling Lacey and admired the two for a bit. He smiled to himself but the minute Steve looked up and saw him standing there his facial expression turned blank. Steve didn't need to know that Dustin was finally warming up to him after years of the Harrington boy dating his sister. He'd seen how he'd treated her in the past and wasn't going to let him get away with it that easily. "Let's go." Dustin said, and the two teens broke apart from each other, Lacey turning to Dustin and pulling him into a hug. "I love you no matter how stupid you've been." She stated with a small giggle and Dustin rolled his eyes which Steve noticed and Steve pointed at Dustin almost as if he was telling him to behave. "Okay, okay." Dustin moaned before pushing Lacey off of him. "We have a demodog to find!" He stated and the three led themselves to Steve's car.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Steve, Lacey and Dustin got the meat they needed to lure Dart to the junkyard. They decided they would leave a trail on the rail road track and continue on to the junkyard. Once they'd got to the track and parked Steve's car Dustin's walkie talkie crackled and Lucas spoke into it. "This is Lucas, do you copy Dustin?" Dustin rolled his eyes and dropped the bucket of meat onto the ground with a thud. Lacey and Steve watched Dustin as he spoke to Lucas in an annoyed tone. "Well, well, well look who it is." "Sorry man." Lucas whined, "My stupid sister turned it off." He added. "Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again." Dustin informed him, "He escaped and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon." Dustin told him, "Wait what?" Lucas asked and Dustin shook his head as if Lucas could see him, "I'll explain later, meet me, my sister and Steve at the old junkyard." Dustin ended and Lucas spoke, "Your sister and Steve?" his voice sounded of confusion. "And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket." Dustin added. "Alright, let's go Dustin." Lacey called and Dustin nodded. "Just be there stat. Over and out." Dustin ended the conversation.

The trio walked the track dropping small piles of meat as they went. Lacey was walking ahead, she couldn't stand the smell of raw meat and she was keeping an eye out on things while Steve and Dustin trailed behind.

"So tell me why you decided to keep this thing?" Steve asked and Dustin sighed. "Too impress a girl." He plopped some more meat on the ground. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who you just met?" Steve questioned and Dustin sighed again but nodded. "Why would a girl like a gross slug anyway?" Steve continued and Dustin responded excitedly. "An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome." "Well even if she thought it was cool which she didn't I …" Dustin stopped speaking because Steve interrupted." I just feel like you're trying way too hard you know?" "Well not everyone can have your perfect hair and date someone as cool as Lacey." Dustin responded, looking toward his sister who had stopped and was peering into the forest. "It's not about the hair man. The key with girls is acting like you don't care…" Steve said and Dustin looked at his sister and then at Steve. "You don't act like you don't care." Dustin said, remembering Steve consoling his sister earlier. "How do you think I got your sister in the first place but obviously I don't have to do it anymore because we've been together for ages but man it drives them nuts." Steve stated looking at Lacey and smiling to himself remembering how frustrated she used to get with him in the beginning of their relationship.

"Then what?" Dustin asked, snapping Steve out of his thoughts.

"Then you wait until you feel it." Steve said, with a nod and shrug, confusing Dustin even more.

"Feel what?" Dustin pressed and Steve sighed. "It's like before it's gonna storm you know? You can't see it but you can feel it like this uh… electricity you know?" Steve continued and Dustin nodded but he was staring at the ground thinking. "Oh like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere…" Before Dustin could drone on Steve interrupted. "No, no, no, like sexual electricity." Steve stopped speaking and Dustin looked up at Steve who was looking at Lacey. Steve realized that Lacey would probably kill him if she heard what he was telling Dustin but Steve felt like the kid needed a lesson in the love department. Steve also noticed that Lacey kept peering into the bushes worriedly,

Every drop of meat that hit the ground behind her made her jump. The crunching of the leaves, the rustle of the trees was slowly reminding Lacey of last year when they found Nancy and Jonathan in the woods after they'd come across the Demogorgon. She was beginning to feel like this idea was stupid. They hadn't killed the Demogorgon last year when her Steve, Nancy and Johnathan attacked it so what made them think they could kill it now and where were Nancy and Jonathan anyway? Shouldn't they be there with them at this point, why didn't anyone think to call them too? They didn't even have Eleven to help them with their fight.

Lacey decided to slow down and wait for Steve and Dustin to catch up with her because her breathing had become rapid again and she could feel herself going into panic mode when she heard Steve telling Dustin he uses Faberge hair products in his hair and Farah Fawcett hairspray she laughed at Dustin's facial expression and felt herself calm down immediately. "You tell anyone I just told you that and your ass is grass Henderson. The only other person who knows I use that is Lacey because she gave me the Farah Fawcett spray." Steve ended and looked up to realize they'd caught up with Lacey who was grinning at them and nodding in agreement that she gave Steve the hairspray. "It's cute how you two are bonding." She stated, hands on her hips and a grin spread across her face.

"You're dead Henderson. Do you understand?" Steve warned Dustin, ignoring Lacey's comment. Dustin nodded and responded with a simple "Yup."

Once they'd arrived at the junkyard Steve looked around and nodded at the other two. "This will do, this will do just fine. Good call Dude." Steve said patting Dustin on the back. The two lifted their buckets and poured the remainder of the meat out into one big pile on the grass. Lacey crinkled her nose in disgust.

"I SAID MEDIUM-WELL." Lucas's voice was heard from a distance. The three looked up to see Lucas waving and balancing on his bike but he wasn't alone.

Lacey recognised the girl as the girl who got out of Billy Hargrove's car on the first day of school and the one who'd been there when her brother and his friends had been digging in the trash at school that other day. "Who's that?" Steve asked Dustin the question and Lacey looked at her younger brother who had a look of hurt and confusion on his face. Steve also seemed to notice the look on Dustin's face and kept quiet and shook his head at Lacey who had opened her mouth wanting to ask more questions since Dustin hadn't responded to the first one.

"Hey guys." Dustin said to the two. "Max this is my sister Lacey and her boyfriend Steve, guys this is Max." Dustin introduced them to each other. Lacey eyed Max suspiciously before pulling Steve away and getting things sorted for their fight with Demogorgon. "That was rude…" Steve whispered at her and Lacey shook her head, "I'm not letting my brother get involved with a relation of Billy Hargrove." Lacey hissed and Steve's eyes widened. "Woah but you don't even know her?" He said, shocked and Lacey rolled her eyes "We don't have time to get to know each other Steve we're not on some sort of team building adventure." Lacey ended and Steve sighed to himself.

Lucas and Dustin were now crouching behind a car while Max assisted Lacey and Steve with the boarding up of the bus. The three didn't speak to each other and the only thing Dustin noticed was Lacey throwing dirty looks towards Max and he didn't understand why.

"You told her?" He eventually rounded on Lucas who shrugged, "So what, you were going to tell her…" He insisted pointing to Dustin, "Yeah but I didn't." Dustin ended and Lucas sighed, "We agreed not to tell her and to look for Dart." Dustin added.

"Who you conveniently found." Lucas said sarcastically.

"Are you suggesting that I'm lying?" Dustin asked his friend.

"I'm saying you have a creepy little bond with him." Lucas informed him and Dustin shrugged his shoulders, "That was before he turned into a Demogorgon."

"So you haven't heard from Mike or Will?" Lucas asked, changing the subject slightly to avoid an argument with Dustin over Dart.

Dustin shook his head, "Hopper is also MIA." Dustin informed him. "Why do you think I'm with my sister and Steve Harrington?" Dustin added, rolling his eyes and gagging. Lucas laughed. "Something's…" Lucas started but Dustin cut in, "Wrong I know." Dustin nodded. "Which is why we need all the help we can get right?" Lucas suggested and Dustin rolled his eyes because he knew Lucas meant Max. "She didn't believe me anyway." Lucas added and Dustin shrugged, "You probably didn't tell it right." Dustin said, "That must be it. So are we good?" Lucas asked Dustin who nodded and as they were about to shake hands Steve interrupted them at this point.

"Hey dickheads, how come the only people helping me out is your sister and some random girl?" He asked pointing at Dustin and then gesturing his hand to Max. We lose light in 40 minutes let's go!" Steve ordered the two who rolled their eyes. "DUSTIN, COME HELP ME OVER HERE!" Lacey called over to him and Lucas smiled at Steve and went to assist Max.

Once the bus had been boarded up and the sun had gone down the party were sitting on the bus waiting patiently for Dart to take the bait.

Lacey and Steve were sitting next to each other while Steve flicked his lighter on and off. They were going to burn Dart once he started eating the bait. Lacey was resting her head on Steve's shoulder while Max was watching them closely before speaking to Steve. Lucas was on the roof of the bus keeping watch with his binoculars.

"So have you really fought one of these things before and you're 100% sure it wasn't a bear or something?" She asked him and Dustin snapped.

"Shit. Don't be an idiot okay? It wasn't a bear. Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home!" Dustin told her and she rolled her eyes and got up, frustrated. "Wow, some's cranky is it past your bedtime?" She asked before going up the ladder to join Lucas.

Lacey looked up at Dustin who was looking up to where Max disappeared with a frown on his face, "That's good. Just show her you don't care." Steve said to Dustin and Lacey's face turned towards Steve. "What?" She asked him, standing up and going over to Dustin and Steve looked from Dustin and Lacey. "Do you like her?" Lacey asked, frowning at her younger brother in disapproval. "You do know her brother is Billy Hargrove right?" She asked him and Dustin nodded, "She's not like him…" Dustin protested but then he shrugged "But I don't care anymore I guess." Steve winked at Dustin who shook his head, "Stop winking at me Steve, I'm not following your advice I think I just don't care anymore." Dustin stated sitting down on the second last step of the ladder and groaning in his hands. Lacey nodded and wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulders and squeezed him. "Stop…" Dustin groaned before getting up and going to the other side of the bus away from Lacey who frowned at Steve. "What advice are you giving my brother?" She asked him and he lifted his hands up in defence "Hey, hey he asked for some advice on how to get a girl and I gave him some…" Steve said walking slowly over to Lacey who had folded her arms in front of her chest in defence. "I seem to have more luck in the department than he does so I thought I could help him out?" Steve added, placing his hands on Lacey's shoulders and looking her in

her blue green eyes. "Don't hate me for that please?" Steve asked, puppy dog eyes beaming directly at Lacey who sighed and opened her arms to embrace Steve. "Fine, I'll let it go this time but I don't like seeing Dustin upset." Lacey said and Steve nodded. "I'll go see if he's okay, no more advice I promise." Steve said crossing his heart.

Lacey was standing at the bottom of the ladder now and had just overheard Max talking about Billy. "My stepbrothers always been a dick but now he's just angry all the time and well he can't take it out on my mom, so…" Her voice faded.

Stepbrother Lacey thought to herself.

"He takes it out on you?" Lucas asked her and Lacey's heart dropped.

"Not physically, he's just angry." Max insisted and Lacey heard her sniff. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this…" Max ended and Lacey looked to her brother and Steve who were talking quietly. She was glad Steve and Dustin weren't angry all the time. Perhaps she needed to give Billy the benefit of the doubt and perhaps Max but she was pulled out of her thoughts and she jumped when she heard Lucas shouting. "I'VE GOT EYES TEN O CLOCK!" Dustin and Steve rushed over to Lacey and peered out of the holes made by the boards. Lacey heard the growling. She crouched down next to Dustin and the three of them saw Dart emerge out of the fog. "What's he doing?" Dustin asked. "I don't know." Steve responded and Lacey felt her hands start to shake. Dustin felt Lacey tremble next to him and looked at his sister. Her eyes were frozen on Dart and she was breathing rapidly. Dustin took her hand in his and squeezed it. She blinked and looked at Dustin with a small but reassuring smile. "Why isn't he taking the bait?" Steve moaned quietly and Dustin's head turned back to Dart and whispered, "Maybe he's not hungry?"

"Wait, are you sure that's not a dog?" Max whispered, Dustin and Lucas shushed her. "It's not a dog." Lacey stated her voice hoarse. "Maybe he's sick of cow?" Steve suggested and they all looked at him. Steve got up and grabbed his bat. "Stay here and just get ready." Steve warned the party, throwing the lighter at Dustin. Lacey's eyes grew wide. "Hell no!" Lacey shouted in a whisper, shock horror had spread on her face. Steve was already by the door of the bus and the metal creaked as he opened it. "Steve… Steve…" Dustin started first and then Lucas. Lacey had controlled her breathing. She suddenly realized what Steve was doing and she realized why. She and Steve were the oldest. They needed to protect the younger kids. She nodded at him and he smiled and disappeared into the fog.

Steve started to whistle. "What is he doing?" Max asked the three who looked at her but only Lacey responded, "Expanding the menu."

Steve was egging the Demogorgon on, "Come on buddy, come on its dinner time, human tastes better than cat, I promise." He was saying to Dart while swinging his bat around.

"He's insane." Max stated and Dustin and Lacey both responded to Max's statement in unison. "He's awesome!" Lacey looked at Dustin surprised by his response and Dustin nodded, 'Yeah, yeah, he's making the cut…" Dustin smiled and Lacey laughed softly and ruffled her brother's hair, "About damn time." She said and Dustin rolled his eyes at her ruffling. Max watched the two siblings bond and felt a twinge of jealousy so she climbed back up the ladder with Lucas, slowly, to get a better look at the surroundings.

"STEVE WATCH OUT!" Lucas called to Steve. Lacey looked up the ladder at Lucas who was looking in another direction. "A little busy here!" Steve responded sarcastically. Lacey could see what Lucas was seeing out the cracks of the bus and she dashed up the ladder leaving Dustin alone in the bus. "THREE O CLOCK STEVE, THREE O CLOCK!" She screamed, her voice breaking a little from the screaming. Steve looked around and noticed another Demogorgon had joined the fun and by the sounds of it there were more than two. Dustin panicked in the bus and he opened the door. "STEVE, ABORT, ABORT!" He yelled to Steve who was waiting to see if the dogs would attack and when Dart started running towards him, flower mouth open, ready for the kill Steve ran. He slid over the bonnet of an old car before pounding one of the Demogorgon's that got too close with his bat. He dashed for the bus and once inside they slammed it shut. Lacey, Lucas and Max had rushed down the ladder and now all five of them were the bus as the monster bashed his whole body against the bus door. "They can't get in!" Dustin cried shaking his head and Steve pushed his body against the door. Lacey had thrown a sheet of metal to Steve who tried to block the door even more. Dustin grabbed his walkie talkie and started to speak into it. "Is anyone there? Will, Mike ANYONE?" He cried, "We're at the old junkyard and we are going to die!" He continued while Lacey tried to help Steve block the door but the Demogorgon managed to break through and Lacey stepped back and screamed while Steve bashed the Demogorgon again with his bat. The creature escaped Steve's bashes and there was silence for a few seconds before there was a loud banging heard coming from the top of the bus. The party looked up at the roof and Max who was closest to the ladder looked out of the sun roof waiting for something terrible to happen which it did. Max came face to face with the creature the others had called the Demogorgon. It stared at her and Max stared at it and once the creature sniffed her out and opened its flower shaped mouth Max found her voice and screamed in terror.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" Steve shouted before pushing Max and coming face to face with the creature. The others watched Steve in terror as he aimed his bat at the monster. "You want some? Come get it!" Steve cried out, about to hit the Demogorgon in the mouth with the spikes of the bat but just like that the creature stopped roaring and looked away from Steve, into the distance. The monster howled and the others joined in before retreating from the attack and disappearing into the night. Silence engulfed the junkyard once more and Steve opened the bus door slightly to see what was happening outside but there was nothing.

"What happened?" Lucas asked the other four who stood outside the bus looking around the junkyard.

"Steve scared them off?" Dustin suggested but Steve shook his head and looked at Lacey who was listening intently. "They're going somewhere…" Steve ended and the kids eyes widened in terror but also glad to not be anywhere near the Demogorgon's anymore.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The group were walking. They did not know where they were walking to, but they were walking in silence until Lucas spoke. "Are you sure that was Dart?" He asked Dustin who nodded, his dark curls bouncing with his nod. "Yes. He had a yellow pattern on his butt." Lucas looked annoyed while the other three listened to the conversation. "But he was tiny two days ago." Lucas argued and Dustin got annoyed this time. "Well he's moulted three times already!" Dustin explained and Steve looked confused. "Malted?" Steve asked and Lacey chuckled. Steve looked at Lacey rolled his eyes and looked back at Dustin "MOULTED!" Dustin corrected, rolling his own eyes at him. "Who's the oldest here?" Dustin asked sarcastically Steve rolled his eyes and Lacey laughed again and patted Steve on the shoulder in comfort. "Look it means he shed his skin to make room for growth." Dustin continued and Steve nodded in understanding. "When will he moult again?" Max chimed in and Dustin looked at her, "It's got to be soon and when he does he'll be fully grown or close to it." Steve whistled and Lacey shuddered, Max however just nodded.

"And so will his friends…" Lucas added and Lacey nodded. "Yeah, and he's going to eat a lot more than just cats." Lacey added and Dustin looked at her and shook his head wildly.

"Wait a cat? Dart ate a cat?" Lucas asked, confused.

"No, what? No." Dustin shook his head and Steve butted in this time, "What do you mean no, he ate Mews?" Dustin glared at Steve and Lacey who only now caught on that Dustin was trying to stop them from saying anything further.

"Mews who's Mews?" Max asked this time looking from the siblings to Steve and Dustin sighed in defeat. "It's their cat!" Lucas cried pointing at Lacey and Dustin who looked at each other but didn't say anything more.

"I knew you kept him!" Lucas continued and Dustin shook his head, "No I didn't." Lucas eyed Dustin out until he made Dustin feel uncomfortable. "He missed me. He wanted to come home." "BULLSHIT" Lucas cried and the two continued to argue. "Your stupid pet could have eaten us for dinner!" Lucas added after a few mutterings about putting the party in jeopardy and breaking the rule of law. Lacey put her hands in between the two. "Guys, who cares? We have bigger things to worry about!" She interrupted and Lucas glared at her. "Obviously you'll take his side. You always take his side no matter how stupid he's been." Lucas moaned at Lacey who looked from her brother to Lucas. "I did confront him earlier Lucas." Lacey informed the boy who was looking highly frustrated. "Yes what Dustin did was not right but he admitted to not knowing it was a baby Demogorgon and I feel like once someone has admitted that they've done wrong we can move on from it and fix it and no I don't always take his side on things." She shot an annoyed look at Lucas who backed off, "But we need to work together. There's time for arguing when this is all over." She calmed the pair down who were watching Lacey and avoiding each other's eyes but they were interrupted by an all too familiar sound of howling, growling and snarling.

"Guys…" Steve spoke this time and the group looked to where Steve was looking, torch pointed to the sound. Steve started walking and Lucas, Dustin and Lacey followed and when they came to a clearing Hawkins Lab came into view.

"Why are we going towards the sound?" Max asked, sounding worried that they'd all lost their minds.

"Where is he?" Dustin asked, looking around as if Dart was about to pounce on them from behind. "It's the lab, they were going back home." Lucas stated after surveying the lab in the distance with his binoculars and the group all looked ahead at the lab that seemed to be in complete darkness only for a few flashing lights.

The party continued to walk towards the lab and when they were rustling through the forest to get back to the road they heard Nancy speak, "Who's there?" She asked voice thick with worry. "Who's there?" She repeated, more firmly. "Nancy, stay back." Jonathan could be heard saying and when the group emerged Nancy was shocked. "Lacey, Steve?" She asked them and they looked at her also shocked, "Nancy, Jonathan?" Steve and Dustin questioned the two and then Lacey spoke, "What are you doing here?" "We're looking for Mike and Will." Nancy responded. "They're not in there are they?" Dustin asked, looking towards the lab. The group all turned towards the lab now and heard the horrific sounds of the creatures. "We're not sure…" Nancy started and Jonathan chimed in, "Why?"

The group all started to talk at the same time and Jonathan put his hands up. "Woah, guys one at a time, all I heard was something about a Demogorgon?" Jonathan questioned and Lucas threw a look at Dustin, "Yes, Dustin kept it as a pet." "Lucas." Dustin groaned and rolled his eyes and put his head in his hands. "There's more than just one…" Lacey interrupted shooting Lucas and Dustin annoyed looks. "Why can't you get in?" Steve asked this time, pointing to the gate. "The power's out." Jonathan stated and he saw Dustin go to the security box to try and open the gate himself. "I've already tried that Dustin." He started, re-joining Dustin in the box. The two were fighting over who could press the button. "Let me try." Dustin moaned and Jonathan looked at Lacey for help. Lacey held her hands up in defeat and shook her head and Jonathan frowned. "The powers back." Jonathan said as the power suddenly came on in the lab and the gate slowly opened after Dustin pressed the button again. "Hey, I did it!" Dustin smiled gleefully and everyone chose to ignore him but Lacey smiled at him and ruffled his hair.

As the gate opened Jonathan and Nancy jumped into Jonathan's car and drove into the lab. They ordered the others to stay back and wait for them outside while they go see what is happening but a few minutes later four sets of car head lights came into view blinding the party.

Jonathan and Nancy drove past first and Lacey saw Mike, Will and Mrs Byers in the backseat. Jim Hopper drove after them and stopped by the kids and ordered them to get into the car. "Get in, get in!" He called to them and all five of them climbed into the car, Lacey climbing into the front seat leaving Steve with the three kids at the back.

"What is happening?" Lacey cried out to Hopper who was speeding down the road like an escaped criminal. "Will is a spy for whatever possessed him in that other dimension." Hopper explained hurriedly while swerving along the road wildly trying to get away from the lab as quick as possible. "He called those creatures back to the lab from wherever they were…" Hopper continued and Lacey glanced at the kids and Steve in the back, they hadn't actually told anyone about Dart or that they tried to kill him and the army. "They killed Bob…" Hopper ended. Lacey hadn't really met Bob but she'd heard about him from Jonathan. He was Mrs Byers's new boyfriend and he seemed to be a genuine human being of what Jonathan had told her.

The party were silent after Hopper told them that Bob had been killed. Dustin and Lucas sighed sadly and all Lacey wanted to do was give her a brother a squeeze and tell him everything was going to be okay even if it wasn't.

They reached the Byers residence as it was closest to the lab and hurried inside. Jonathan, Nancy, Mrs Byers, Will and Mike were already there. They had Will lying on the couch asleep. Jonathan was talking to him softly. Jim got onto the phone immediately to call higher authorities who could help them with what was happening in the lab.

"Sam Owens, Dr Sam Owens…" Jim Hopper was saying into the telephone while Jonathan apologised to a sleeping Will about not being there with him when he'd been possessed by the whatever it was he'd been possessed with, Jonathan didn't really understand how Will was possessed as Mike hadn't overindulged in the story but they knew they couldn't have Will awake otherwise the Demogorgon's would be back for them if he was the spy.

"I don't know how many people are in that lab we just need some help down here." Hop continued, getting annoyed. "I am the police, chief Jim Hopper!" He cried out, hitting his left hand onto his chest as he listened to the lady on the other line and nodded to no one in particular, "Yes, you can reach me on the number I gave you."

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Lacey asked him when he hung up the phone and he shrugged his shoulders, "We'll see…" He finished, starting to walk off to Joyce's bedroom where she'd been held up since they got to the house.

"We'll see? We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Mike cried and Hopper shook his head at the young boy and spoke with authority, "We stay here, and we wait for help." He ended and sauntered down the hallway.

Mike was holding the picture of Bob that Will had drawn deeming him a superhero and started speaking to Lucas and Dustin.

"Do you know that Bob was the founder of the AV Club?" He asked them and they shook their heads. "Really?" Lucas asked and Mike nodded, and they continued to speak about Bob for a while.

The four older teenagers were standing around feeling fidgety. "We have to do something…" Nancy stated, and Steve shook his head, "You heard the chief, we need to stay put until help comes, those things can't find us here as long as Will's asleep." He ended and Lacey agreed with Steve much to Nancy's dismay. "We tried to fight one of those before and look what happened and now there's an army…" Lacey added.

"Exactly, his army…" Mike interrupted, and the teens looked towards the younger Wheeler.

"The chief's right though Mike, we can't fight those demo-dogs on our own." Lacey stated, folding her arms across her chest.

"But maybe we can stop him…" Mike said, and the group of kids looked at him in confusion. Mike's gaze turned to Will who was asleep on the couch. "Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too." He concluded and Dustin had caught up. "The shadow monster… it got Will that day on the field…" He said. "The Shadow Monster?" Steve questioned and Mike and Dustin nodded. "The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him…" Mike said, and Nancy spoke this time, "That's why you guys were at the lab?" She asked and Mike nodded.

"The virus is connecting him to the upside down." Mike ended.

"The shadow monster is inside Will…" Dustin stated, and the group turned their heads to look at Will who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. "If he feels pain so does everything that is connected to him… the vines that Hopper found on the farm, the Demogorgon's, everything…" Mike informed them. "What vines?" Lacey questioned and Mike turned towards her, "There are tunnels leading from the lab. They haven't reached Hawkins yet but they're on the outskirts of the town, by the pumpkin farms. Hopper was found in them the other day." Mike ended and Lacey stared at Dustin. "I think the tunnels have reached Hawkins…" She said and Steve and Dustin looked at each other. "Because of Dart?" Lucas said, throwing a dirty look Dustin's way. Lacey nodded, "When we trapped him in the storm cellar, he dug out of there and possibly into some sort of vine tunnel in the upside down." Lacey finished and Dustin sighed loudly to himself but didn't try to argue or fight.

"But anyway, there's not much we can do about that now…" Steve defended Dustin and wanted to hear more about Will and the vines and the connection with the shadow monster.

"What about this shadow monster?" He asked and Mike spoke again, referencing their science teacher. "It's basically like what Mr Clarke taught us about the hive mind…"

"The hive mind?" Max asked, curiously. Dustin nodded, "A collective consciousness, it's a super-organism and this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain." He said, turning his head to Will. "Like the mind flayer in Dungeons and Dragons?" Lucas asked and Dustin nodded.

"What the hell is that?" Hopper asked, joining the kids while they sat around the table staring at a book that Dustin had found, showing a terrifying creature.

"It's a monster from another dimension, the Mind Flayer is a creature so ancient that it doesn't even know its own home. It will take over a human brain because it wants to be part of something or control something." Dustin continued to explain.

"This isn't real, this is a kid's game!" Hopper exclaims, sounding annoyed.

"It's the best way to understand what this thing is – the thing that has Will!" Mike argues, "So you say if we kill the mind flayer we kill everything it controls like the upside down?" Nancy asks and Mike and Dustin nod.

"We are not doing anything. We are waiting for the military backup!" Hopper cries out and Lacey looks at Will and then at the group.

"So what are we going do about it?" She asked, ignoring Hopper's statement and the group turn to look at her.

"Destroy the mind flamer? Nancy asked and Dustin frowns, "The mind-flayer." He corrects Nancy before he continues, "Won't be destroyed that easily."

The group stare at Will and try to come up with an easier or more realistic way of destroying the mind flayer.


End file.
